Unwanted Child, Prophecy Child
by Awen Sofer
Summary: The birth of an unwanted child would lead the existence of the child of the prophecy who would save them all. They were both golden boys in their own right: one being the child of two Sannins and the other being the first grandchild of the Sannin's progeny. Many surprises await with this story but none of the yaoi kind. (OC will be added later.)
1. Chapter 1

This story is a joint work between myself and Firetemplar415. He has laid the groundwork for an amazing story to which I am providing all of the fancy words.

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Prologue

The throes of the Second Shinobi War ending were still being felt throughout the continents. The inhabitants of many of the smaller villages were jumping for joy as soon as the news reached their ears. In one of those little villages on the west coast of Hi No Kuni called Hinode, which means sunrise, Tsunade Senju was deeply entrenched in one of her infamous drinking binges. The reason for her current sorry state was due to a lover's quarrel that had occurred between her and her fiancé Dan. Not seeing eye to eye on when to start a family or where to raise the child, the discussion evolved from polite conversation to irate shouting that progressed to Tsunade breaking various items. Tsunade's super strength mixed with her short temper amounted to lots of destroyed furniture that evening. After Dan walked away, so did she - right into the nearest bar. The drinking was not only to relax her from her argument with her fiancé but also to get her mind off of all of the killing that occurred during the war. However, a relaxing drink for her was _**never**_ about just one drink. It always included countless tokkuris of sake and resulted in a very drunk Tsunade who could barely remember her name. Enough was never enough until she passed out and was unable to suck it down her gullet any longer.

Jiraiya was walking through Hinode searching for his fellow teammates. They were taking an extended break to rest and recover in the quiet village after their last mission. Noticing that a crowd was gathering down the street, curiosity drove him to discover what spectacle could be drawing such attention. Easily shouldering through the crowd with his broad muscular body, he edged his way to the front to see his favorite blond teammate emptying what he guessed to be her thirtieth tokkuri of sake. As she reached for another full bottle, he stepped forward and grabbed her arm before she could raise it to her lips. He could not keep the disgust from showing on his face that did she not even have the decency to use a cup.

"Tsunade, what the hell do you think you are doing?" he demanded, uncurling her fingers from the ceramic tokkuri which took great effort despite her drunken state.

"What do you think, you idiot? I'm having a drink to relax. I want to have some fun!" she yelled, snatching the bottle back from his hand.

Jiraiya eyed her warily wondering how she had not yet lost consciousness. Despite being an outstanding medic, one of the best, she could not save herself and was well on her way to committing suicide. Taking the bottle back from her, he drank the contents himself to give him courage for the upcoming confrontation. Reaching out to seize her by the arm, he pulled her to a standing position to remove her from the bar.

"Come on, Tsunade. I'm taking you somewhere to sleep this off. Once you're sober, perhaps a day or two from now, we can talk about what's really bothering you," he grumbled, dragging her out of the door.

The short walk back to the hotel might as well have been a journey of a thousand miles. Tsunade tried to free herself by delivering a punishing chakra enhanced right hook to his face. When that did not work, she hit him with a powerful chakra infused left jab that caused him to release her. Unfortunately, in his desperation to grab his escaped quarry, he reached around her and 'accidentally' grasped her gigantic breasts to halt her.

"Damn pervert!" she shrieked which was her last big hurrah in attempting to fight him off. Once the words were uttered, she went limp in his arms after losing consciousness.

Jiraiya dared to give the unconscious woman's breasts one last squeeze before hefting her over his shoulder to haul her to the hotel. His face ached and the unmistakable throbbing pain of his lip swelling were forgotten due to his elation from being able to cop a feel without losing his life. Once inside his room, he lay her down on the bed to wait. Unfortunately, patience was not a virtue he possessed nor cared to cultivate so after a few hours of enduring crushing boredom he decided it was time to leave. Besides after hours of staring at the rising and falling of her massive breasts while she slept, he was in need of the company of a female who would not threaten his life or manhood when he tried to fulfill his biological needs.

"Kuchiyose No Jutsu," he murmured to summon a toad babysitter to watch over the hapless drunk.

"Hey Jiraiya, how's it going?" Gamatoro greeted the wild looking white haired Toad Sage.

"Not bad...just in the last stages of this war and with any luck we'll be heading home soon," he responded before growing more serious. "Listen I need a favor. See the beautiful lady sleeping right there?"

Gamatoro warily eyed the snoring woman. "Yes. I see her."

"Keep an eye on her for me, will you? She is a dear friend and my teammate. Please," he implored the toad who swung his gaze back to the man who had summoned him.

"Of course," the toad agreed, watching the man run out of the door.

"Thanks. I'll be back...later," Jiraiya told Gamatoro without turning around.

Jiraiya did not waste time getting to the bars to find a pretty little thing to keep him company and pass away a few hours with a pleasurable distraction or two.

...

Tsunade groaned and rolled onto her side as she slowly began to drift into that irritating state called wakefulness. Taking in her the blurry surroundings through half cracked eyes, she came to the startling realization that she was in a strange hotel room. Springing to a sitting position, things only became more strange when she saw the two foot tall orange and yellow toad sitting on the bedside table. She screamed and scooted backwards across the bed. Another scream wrenched itself free from her lips when she fell off the other side. Peeking above the mattress, she stared at the grumpy looking toad who was sitting there with his legs and arms crossed as if he were a grumpy human. A toad! With a sick feeling growing in the pit of her stomach that had nothing to do with all of the sake she had drunk, she knew she was in Jiraiya's room because the toad had to be one of his summons. Once her pickled brain was able to form a rational thought after many irrational ones had run through her mind of all of the horrifying things Jiraiya could have done to her, she spoke to the toad that she had finally recognized.

"Gamatoro, what am I doing here? How did I get here? And why are you here? Where's Jiraiya?" she questioned him in rapid succession.

"You got sloppy drunk, Jiraiya brought you here to sleep it off, I'm you're babysitter, and he's out getting laid," the toad answered bluntly and to the point.

"Oh, so we didn't...he didn't..." She made an obscene hand gesture to get the idea across.

"No. Nothing happened," he assured her. "You're safe with me so why don't you go back to sleep?"

Tsunade doubted she could get back to sleep after that shocking wake up call. An hour passed by and Tsunade was feeling a bit better. Her healing talents were useful for getting rid of all sorts of injuries including the self-inflicted hangover. Just as she was beginning to relax and sleep attempted to claim her the door to the room flung open to allow entrance to a drunk and ridiculously happy pervert.

Jiraiya immediately sobered when he was trapped in the death glare of the woman sitting in the bed. He prepared himself for the onslaught of another round of physical abuse when she stood up from the bed.

"Why am I sleeping in your room, Jiraiya? I have one of my own you know!" she shouted, her light skinned face turning pink with anger. "You better not have plans to take advantage me in my weakened condition or so help me the beating I gave you when you saw me naked in the hot springs will feel like love taps in comparison to what I'll do to you "

Raising his hands in a sign of surrender and to protect his face as well, he stuttered, "I-I br-brought you here to keep you safe. Y-you were drunk as hell and making a fool of yourself. I didn't want you to get hurt...or hurt yourself by drinking so much."

"Sorry," she apologized, the pink coloring her cheeks this time from embarrassment. "I didn't mean to assume the worst. It's just that you do have a track record of being a pervert, and I just wanted to make sure."

When Jiraiya only stared at her with his dark eyes full of hurt, her present state of discomfort only worsened. She clapped her hands together and rocked back on her heels before saying, "I suppose I'll be going now. I'd like to at least _try _to enjoy my last few days of rest and relaxation here."

"What's wrong, Hime?" he questioned her bluntly, taking her by the wrist to stop her when she tried to walk past him. "I was pretty sure you would happy because the war is finally coming to an end and all of us can go back home. Weren't you and Dan talking about having kids soon?"

Poor, clueless Jiraiya had no idea what he had just stepped into or the tsunami of bad feelings his simple question had stirred up within the woman standing next to him. Despite the lethal glare from her molten gold eyes, he held onto her wrist. Now he knew the reason for her bender: something had gone terribly wrong with Dan, and it had to do with children.

"It's none of your business what happens in my life, and I don't want to talk about it with you so butt out Jiraiya!" she yelled, attempting to pull free from his grip.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there, Hime!" he exclaimed, hanging on to her like a man does the reins of a wild mare. "I wasn't trying to intrude in your life. I didn't mean to offend you. I just wanted to know what was bothering you. I knew it had to be pretty bad for you to be drinking so heavily. Do you want to talk about it? Did you and Dan break up?"

This question took all of the fire out of her and sent her crashing down in the depths of despair when she replayed the terrible argument with Dan in her mind. Her eyes fastened themselves to the floor to avoid his intent gaze while she took several deep breaths to push back the urge to cry.

"I am sorry I snapped at you," she said with remorse, feeling the need to explain her outburst. "But yesterday Dan and I were discussing some subjects about our future…and we couldn't agree on things and things pretty quickly went downhill. We both said some hurtful things." She paused, sighing heavily and deciding to skip over reviewing those damaging words by speaking them out loud. It would be too painful to hear a second time. Raising her eyes to his, she continued. "And now I'm beginning to have some small doubts if a future with him is something I really want." This admission was punctuated by another noisy sigh of despair. "He left for Konoha after our fight, so we can't really resolve anything for the time being," she finished off with another deep sigh that conveyed her misery more clearly than her words.

Jiraiya could see the inner turmoil playing across her face especially by the tears that gathered in the corners of her eyes. A thought popped into his head of how he could help to take her mind off her troubles and have some fun without anymore sake. The thirty bottles she had relatively recently imbibed was more than enough to hold her for a while.

"Say Hime," he cheerily inquired, playfully nudging her with his elbow. "What do you say to going to the casinos and bankrupting some of them? I know we both have plenty of cash for some gambling and since we're off duty for quite some time we have nowhere else to go. So whaddaya say? Let's go and have some fun!"

Jiraiya had her at gambling and the rest was just blah blah blah. She was all for his idea immediately upon hearing the utterance of the vice she loved even more than drinking: GAMBLING. Her mood instantly perked up when thoughts of all the cash she could make from the local suckers began to dance through her head. Such a wonderful distraction would be perfect to help her forget her troubles...ALL of them. Clearing her throat and feigning nonchalance, she shrugged and mumbled, "Sure what the hell? I have nothing to lose but a few ryos and time."

Tsunade was disappointed that the winner's high fell a little flat due to her severely depressed emotional state. Despite that, she kept trying her luck, winning some and losing more but slowly she began to feel better. By the fourth day, the little black rain cloud that had hovered over disappeared to give way to the mind numbing elation of taking these people for everything they were worth as she fell into an amazing winning streak. With her mind set solely on gambling, she managed to get through the next two weeks in blur of cards, dice, and money. Happier than she had ever been in her life with her incredible luck, she decided to celebrate with a little bit of sake. Unfortunately, Tsunade did not know what a little bit was when it came to alcohol. Gambling daily while having a few drinks, she arm wrestled the local chumps who had no knowledge of her inhuman strength and happily took their cash from ill placed bets. The gambling houses were her true addiction and brought her back for more every day despite the fact she was starting to lose money like water flows downhill. Her teammates, Jiraiya and Orochimaru, were not thrilled either when her gambling prowess took a distinct nose dive when Lady Luck deserted her. She had blown all of her and Jiraiya's money and had worked three quarters of the way through Orochimaru's. Upon receiving orders from the Sandaime to return to Konoha, the two men were actually relieved that their break was over since Tsunade had almost successfully lost ALL of their money. They had two days to get ready to return home.

All three agreed to make the most of those last two days, to wring the absolute most fun out of it, before they returned to Konoha and received orders for their next mission. Since they had little time and little money left, they decided to go for broke literally and figuratively. Even the stoic Orochimaru, who they swore was allergic to fun, went drinking with his teammates and managed to keep up with Tsunade drink for drink. Seeing him loosen up and actually enjoy himself, shocked and almost frightened his more fun loving teammates. They were stunned yet pleased to see this unknown side of the silent, calculating, and often cold Orochimaru. When the usually humorless man created a freak show involving two spoons, a rubber band, a bag of sand, a spatula, a donkey, syrup and two strippers, Jiraiya used their last bit of money to buy the camera and four extra rolls of film from a tourist. No one in Konoha will know of the unholy acts committed by that man except for the unfortunate witnesses, Tsunade and Jiraiya; acts of which they both swore to never speak of again. However, they reserved the pictures, and there were lots of them, for future use against their super serious teammate. Blackmail could be a wonderful thing and they were armed to the teeth with it. Shockingly enough, the debauchery continued a downard spiral that devolved into Tsunade reducing a few bars to mere rubble while Jiraiya lived up to his perverted reputation by grabbing, squeezing, and pinching every woman who came within arm's reach of him. They were just walking out of the scene of their last disaster area of property destruction and sexual battery when Orochimaru ran past them whooping and hollering in the fashion only those that are drunk out of their gourd can manage.

The dark haired man was shedding his clothes as he ran down the main street toward the huge decorative fountain in the village square. Diving into the fountain as if it were a pool, he swam to the middle where a four foot tall naked cherub stood spewing water out of his mouth. He stood up by the cherub, propping his elbow on the sculpture's stone head.

"Look at me everybody! I can be a fountain too!" he bellowed like the drunken he idiot he was while grabbing his manhood and proceeding to demonstrate by peeing into the fountain.

Jiraiya laughed so hard he fell down while Tsunade turned her back on the nauseating display. After finishing off the last roll of film by catching the latest spectacle created by Orochimaru for posterity, Jiraiya pulled him out of the fountain using a fistful of the man's hair for a handle. Somehow the drunken trio avoided being arrested as they stumbled back to their hotel. Orochimaru did not make it back to his room but passed out in a lounge chair by the pool instead. Too fearful to move the man, one of the hotel employees took pity on him and neatly placed a small towel over his middle to cover his manhood which by this time, most of the people in the village had seen anyway. After securing a loan from the local bank, Jiraiya and Tsunade retired to her room to order room service which included several bottle of expensive vintage sake. Sitting on large cushions at the small table in Tsunade's room, they made toasts until they ran out of things to celebrate but that did not stop them from drinking. Upon finishing the last bottle, Jiraiya slammed it down in the middle of the table.

After a hiccup and a belch, he slurred, "We-hell Hiiimmeee, I guess this paaarrrty is ov-ov-" Once he released another burp it seemed to loosen up his tongue so he could talk again. "Over!" He gave Tsunade a leering grin while all sorts of fabulously terrible thoughts ran through his head.

Tsunade on other hand was annoyed the bottles were empty. Since her irritation made her antsy, she was not ready to go to bed yet but she was ready to talk. "So Jiraiya, what you want to talk about?" she mumbled, propping her head up on her fist and giving him a drunken smile. "Let's talk! There's nothing else to do now since the sake's gone. The restaurants are closed and we're banned from the bars...dammit," she bitched relentlessly, turning up one of the empty bottles to allow the last few drops to dribble onto her tongue.

Jiraiya grunted as he watched the display in front of him. Oh, the things he wanted to do with that tongue of hers. To feel it wrapped around his -

"HEY!" she yelled, startling the pervert out of his reverie. "Tell me one of your secrets! And I'll tell you one of mine!"

"Um...dammit," he hissed, pressing his fists against his temples in an attempt to make his brain kick into gear. He shook his head and would swear he heard his brain sloshing. All he could think about was two large cakes with ripe red cherries on top. He wanted to lick those cherries then shove his finger deep into the sweet creamy icing before licking it off. "Dammit," he cursed in misery, slamming his forehead onto the table to get rid of the exotic and extremely perverse imagery that actually had nothing to do with food.

"Jiraiya, tell me a secret," she begged, penetrating his soused brain with the distinct whine of her voice.

"Okay!" he hollered, lifting his head. "Well...when we were kids, I kissed your friend Kimiko. That was my first kiss." He said with a happy smile at the memory. "Nothing happened other than that kiss because it wasn't you." Clearing his throat self-consciously, he quickly tried to back pedal from his slip. "I had wanted it to be you I kissed. I mean all I could think about was you when I kissed her. I, uh, I, well, hell," he muttered, scratching the back of his head and offering her a sheepish grin. "Here's the real secret." He paused, briefly making eye contact with her to see she was gazing at him with deep interest to hear his next words. "I love you, Tsunade. I have for years."

Tsunade snorted, giggling briefly before saying, "That's no secret. We've been friends forever and teammates - "

"No!" he interrupted her in a short burst of loud sound that silenced her laughter instantly. To hell with the past and all of the rejection and physical abuse she had dealt him. Any of his requests for dates had been met with staunch protests of 'We're just friends.' His eyes met hers and he steeled his nerves to utter his next words. "As more than a friend."

"Do you want to know one of my secrets?" Tsunade asked the man watching him nod slowly in reply. "When we were younger I hated you because you made fun of my flat chest and called me other names. But as we grew up, I saw a different side of you. Of course there is your perv side that everyone sees, but I saw something they didn't...something you hid from everyone but me. You can be a really great person and a good man when you want to be. When I saw that side of you..." Her words trailed off and she lowered her eyes from his as a soft pink blush tinted her cheeks. She used her finger to draw invisible circles on the table. "I think you are quite attractive and any woman would be proud to have you as a boyfriend. But then," she sighed, raising her eyes back to his. "But then you do something all stupid and perverted to ruin it. Despite that, I find myself drawn to you. I think I might..." Once again a pregnant pause filled the air with tense silence. "I think I might have a crush of sorts on you. Truth be told, I think I like you a lot more than I'm even willing to admit to myself."

Jiraiya could not stop himself from staring at the crimson faced woman with gape mouthed awe. Was this all a dream and he would wake up soon? He hoped not. More than anything in his life he wanted this to be real. If time stopped here and never started again, he would be happy to be stuck in this moment forever. The woman he has loved for so long referred to him as attractive and confessed to having a crush on him. She liked him. It wasn't love but an L-word is an L-word and he was willing to take it, especially from the woman he thought hated his guts with a passion.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Tsunade cast a tentative glance in the direction of Jiraiya. When their eyes met, each of them quickly looked away. This silly bit of embarrassed flirtation coupled with intermittent blushes continued for several more minutes. Despite being too old for this since they were not young children who had just confessed to their first crush, they indulged in the behavior which happened to be quite endearing. The blushing and the stolen glances only made the other person seem that much more adorable.

"What do you have to say about my secret, Jiraiya?" Tsunade inquired in a low sultry voice after finding the courage to speak.

Jiraiya struggled to find the words rambling around somewhere in his brain that was still muddled with joy unspeakable from her unexpected admission to having feelings for him.  
"I am over the moon, Tsunade! I never believed you would have liked me back much less have a crush on me! I am almost speechless. My brain literally shut down when you said that so I'm having trouble finding the words to say what I want to tell you," he said, speaking deliberately because he did not want to screw up and say the wrong thing.

Tsunade gazed at him long and hard, seeing that hidden side - the one she had quite possibly fallen in love with. Suddenly she saw him as something, not just someone, different entirely. She could envision him clearly as the father of her children. Shaking her head to clear her mind, she reminded herself, _Baby steps, Tsunade. Don't get ahead of yourself and do something stupid. _

"So what do you want to do about it Jiraiya?" she questioned the obviously shell-shocked man. "I mean, it's not every day that someone confesses their crush to you. Then there's that extra added bonus of it being from the person you've pined for so many years," she added, feeling her face grow warm to the tips of her ears.

When her half lidded amber eyes met his, Jiraiya's brain took another hiatus from the ability to form a thought. He was ready to completely shut down, act on his most basic instincts to fulfill his fondest fantasies that he had held for the beautiful blond sitting in front of him. Scooting around the table to sit beside her, he reached out to brush his fingers through the loose hair that fell across her face. His fingers brushed over the silky skin of her cheek before sliding down her neck to her shoulder. When she did not balk at his touch, he grew a bit braver and leaned toward her. Taking her eyes fluttering closed as an invitation, he took his chance and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was gentle, tentative, and mind-blowing in the fact that it had happened yet fulfilling in its sweetness bordering on chasteness. Both people were startled and amazed by his actions: Jiraiya had finally succeeded in making their fondest and deepest held secret wishes become a reality. Just when he thought he might faint from the overwhelming happiness, he grunted when she covered his lips with hers. Now, she was kissing him! If he died at this very moment, he would die a very, VERY happy man.

Tsunade liked kissing him - A LOT. She slid her arms around his neck pulling his body against hers until his hard muscled chest crushed her large breasts while her lips moved across his. Feeling the tentative touch of his tongue against her lower lip, she parted her lips to allow him entrance into her mouth. Oh, Kami, it was AMAZING the way he slowly explored every inch of her sake marinated mouth with that fantastic, prodding tongue.

Jiraiya ripped his mouth from hers when she pushed her tongue past his teeth to taste him. He held her tightly while they looked into each other's eyes and panted for much needed air. His eyes mirrored the yearning look that hers held. How much more unbridled joy could his body take? Willing to find out, he reached up to untie the belt that held his green kimono shirt closed. Shrugging off the piece of cloth, he received further encouragement when her fingers brushed over his well developed pectoral muscle. Tugging at the belt to loosen her white kimono shirt, he kissed her briefly while he pushed the silken article of clothing over her shoulders. While holding her gaze, his fingers drifted across her chest and lower.

"Tsunade," he moaned in an almost plaintive manner when his hands covered her breasts. Her skin was even more luxurious and soft than he had imagined while spying on her in the showers or various other places. He had peeped on her every chance he had gotten. Sometimes it ended badly for him resulting in broken bones and many pints of shed blood but it had been worth it. Nothing had prepared him for the absolute bliss of actually being able to touch her and he was dizzy from the excitement of it all.

"Do you want this?" he asked, sliding his hands down her flat belly to the waist of her pants. He paused with his fingers curling over the top of them before he began removing them. "I only want to do this if you want it. Although I've dreamed of this moment for many years, I will stop if you're not sure. Do you want _me_, Hime?"

Tsunade held the ardent gaze of his gentle brown eyes that held more love than lust at the moment. She affectionately combed her fingers through his incredibly thick white hair before giving him a tender kiss on the lips. To her own amazement, she realized she wanted this, she wanted him, more than she ever thought possible. With her eyes searching his for any trace of the super pervert or mean young boy who had called her names, she encountered only an open heart spilling out the long unrequited love he had held for her so long.

"Oh, yes, Jiraiya," she whispered, her hands roaming down to his pants to show her desire. "I want you."

What could have been drunken selfish lay turned into hours of enchanting lovemaking that took them both on the emotional and physical ride of their lives. They poured out their love that had been deeply covered under layers of pride and pain from the past as well as burying their anguish from recent events experienced during the war and right after. In the end, they were left breathless, physically satisfied and emotionally spent to fall into a wonderfully exhausted sleep in each other's arms.

The following day, well after noon, the couple began to slowly come to life. Tsunade opened her eyes first and saw a man lying next to her in the bed with his back to her. She smiled happily while looking at her love, or at least what she thought was her love Dan, and wrapped her arms around him. Apparently the excessive amounts of alcohol had impaired her memory as well as her concept of time since Dan had left for Konoha nearly three weeks ago. Planting small kisses in a row across his back, her hands moved over his body. As her brain sluggishly kicked into gear, warning bells began to clang softly. Something was odd here. Dan was not this broad and although muscled, his muscles were not thick and ropy beneath his skin but smooth and hard. Just as the bells rose to a deafening volume inside her head, the man beside her rolled over to take her into his arms. JIRAIYA! Staring at the unmistakable red markings down his cheeks, her body began to shake from sheer panic. Oh, Kami, what had she done?! Nausea welled within her while her whole world came crashing down around her with a noiseless crash that only she could hear that sent shockwaves through her body.

"JIRAIYA!" she screeched right next to his ear.

Jiraiya jumped out of the bed stark naked to assume a defensive stance thinking they were under attack. He held two kunai in his hands as well, ready to defend them to the death, preferably that of the nonexistent threat.

Tsunade wrapped herself tightly in the sheet glaring quizzically at the man who was gradually coming to the realization the only threat on his life was her. She could not even begin to imagine where he had been hiding those kunai knives nor did she really want to know either. Just as her eyes lowered and rested on a part of his anatomy that was also awake and standing at attention, she coughed and tried not to laugh as he commenced to hopping around the room searching for his pants after he had become disturbingly aware of his state of nakedness. However, her amusement immediately gave way to the anger boiling inside of her.

"What the hell happened here?" she demanded, keeping the sheet wrapped around her body as she got up from the bed to retrieve her clothes.

"What do you think happened here? It's pretty obvious," he muttered grumpily receiving an empty sake bottle to the side of the head. "Ow, dammit that hurt!"

"It was supposed to, dumbass," she growled, pulling her clothes on beneath the cloth barricade. She was sure he had seen far too much of her body already. "What did you do to me?"

"Nothing you didn't want me to," he shot back giving her a lecherous grin. This time he was ready for the flying bottle and caught it. Glancing at the table, he saw that she still had plenty of ammunition to go should she decide to hurl another one. "I've never heard you make noises like that before."

"Shut up, please, just shut up," she mumbled, pressing her fingertips to her temples. It was to help her think despite her awful pounding headache.

Both people grew quiet, lost in their recollection of last night's events. Drinking, lots of drinking, mixed with weird images of demolished buildings and a nude Orochimaru doing an impression of an x-rated fountain sculpture. The two of them shuddered simultaneously from the last remembrance. A little more sake, talking, confessions, and...oh, Kami NO! Their eyes met across the room as deep red blushes colored their faces. The sex had been great but there had been SEX! That wasn't supposed to happen!

"Dan," Tsunade murmured, dropping down on the bed heavily when her mind filled with thoughts of him. How could she do this to him? He was her fiancé. They had fought but nothing worthy of this kind of betrayal. Covering her mouth with her hands, she felt the sting of tears that formed in her eyes. Her mind had omitted the memory of her confession of her secret crush on Jiraiya. Apparently that had been a secret so well hidden she had even kept it from herself. However, it was a secret that enough sake had successfully brought to the surface long enough to be spilled but not remembered - at least by her.

Jiraiya visibly flinched when her narrowed amber eyes nailed him to wall with a caustic glare that made him experience physical discomfort. He backed away, afraid that she was about to explode and kill him. When she moved with lightning fast speed, he barely had time to brace himself for the open-handed slap that landed him into the nearest wall. Coughing as the plaster dust billowed around him, he was wary of moving to draw her attention again to incite another attack.

"You bastard! How could you do this? How could you get me drunk and seduce me? You know Dan and I have plans to get married. I just can't believe you would do something so horrible! I know you're a pervert but I had no idea you could stoop so low!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs.

Jiraiya pulled himself out of the wall, slapping at his clothes to remove the white powdery covering. His head suddenly jerked up and he glowered at her when the impact of her words sunk in. "Me? What did I do? You got drunk on your own and stayed that way for days before I even laid a hand on you thank you very much! Seduced you? If you call asking your permission and making sure you wanted it, seducing you, then yeah I guess I did!"

Tsunade backed away when he rushed forward to come nose to nose to her. She blinked as he continued ranting loudly without backing down.

"You said you found me attractive and had a crush me! What the hell was that? Who seduced who Tsunade? Was it all lie just to get me into bed?" he demanded lost in a full on rage, seizing her by the arm. "Do you or don't you have feelings for me? So which is it? Tell me!"

Tsunade was momentarily too stunned to speak. When he shook her to make her answer, it stirred the fury within her to bring it to the surface.

"Don't get that tone with me, Jiraiya! And NO, I don't have a crush on you! Why would I ever like a perv like you? Someone who never takes things seriously and is always clowning around! No, you just took advantage of my drunken state to sleep with me. You've said it yourself, you're a super pervert. Congratulations! Last night you truly lived up to that name!" she shouted, wrenching herself free of his grip to turn her back to him. Covering her face with her hands, she wished she could stop the thoughts that were spinning through her head totally out of control. _What am I going to tell Dan? Oh, Kami, help me! He will never forgive me. Never. _ Whirling around, she stared at Jiraiya with tears in her eyes. "I really hate you, Jiraiya! I hope you're happy. Now you have a great story to tell and something to brag about now that you have slept with me."

Jiraiya closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. If he did not die from this, he was going to come damn close to it. After her foot made contact with is belly from a solid kick, he lurched forward falling to his knees as the pain from a ruptured spleen and a few broken ribs racked his body. Standing to his feet, he knew this was only the beginning of the punishment but he would not defend himself or attack her. He was willing to take it to make her feel better.

After leveling half the hotel and growing sick of hitting Jiraiya, Tsunade informed him in a low malicious voice with cold hateful eyes," I don't know why you did this but I will never forgive you! You have hurt me deeply and made this awful mess. I never want to talk to you again! You have caused enough problems in my life, and I want nothing else to do with you! No missions, no greetings, no communication...PERIOD! I hope to never see you again as well. You make me sick!"

After hurling the final venomous insult, she grabbed her belongings to leave. She told the owner of the hotel to send the bill to her in Konoha and left the formerly quiet village of Hinode.

Jiraiya was left in a pool of his own blood with fifteen broken bones and numerous damaged organs. The most excruciating pain of all came from his heart that she had broken.


	2. Chapter 2

After arriving in Konoha, Tsunade pulled together what little dignity and courage she had left to go to Dan's house to talk to him. She raised her hand to knock on the door, taking a deep breath before rapping her knuckles against the wood. Her heart nearly stopped beating when he answered the door, looking at her in silence with his penetrating dark green eyes.

"We need to talk," Tsunade announced feeling that her heart might explode because it was beating so fast.

"Yes. We do," he stated emotionlessly, stepping aside to allow her entrance to the house.

Tsunade gave him a tearful complete confession of the events that had occurred in Hinode. It hurt so badly to see the pain cross his face before he was able to hide it. She begged for his forgiveness, not expecting it. She hoped that one day he could forgive her, but doubted that day would be today.

"You have no idea how much I regret that. I wish I could go back and undo it but..." She stopped when emotion stole her words and she was no longer able to speak. Dropping her chin down to her chest, she waited for his response.

"But you can't," he finished for her. "What do you want to do?"

Tsunade slowly raised her head while tears trickled down her cheeks to drip from her chin. "I want to try to work things out. I love you, Dan. I want to be your wife. I want to be with you for the rest of my life."

"I'm willing to try. You'll have to be patient and give me time to wrap my head around this. I love you too, Tsunade," he said, kissing her on the forehead.

Tsunade's stomach clenched as his soft lips touched her skin. She had a chance! He was giving her a chance at redemption, and she wanted it with all of her heart.

~...~

The next few months were not easy. Their relationship endured many false starts and quite a few setbacks, but they were determined to work things out. At the three month mark of her return home, Tsunade made a startling discovery that would only complicate things for them: she was pregnant. Being a highly skilled medical nin, she had known earlier but had ignored the signs. Whose baby was it? Jiraiya's or Dan's? Her emotional confession to Dan had resulted in a night of passionate sex born out of mutual hurt to seek comfort. This happened mere days after her drunken tryst with Jiraiya. Since the events had occurred within such a short span of time of each other, there was no way she could pinpoint the exact time of conception. It was impossible to know whose baby it was using dates.

Tsunade really did not want to know. She had already caused herself and Dan enough pain. The thought of the child being Jiraiya's sickened her. She did not want a permanent reminder of a solitary stupid mistake. By the time she entered her fourth month, she could no longer hide her pregnancy from Dan since he was seeing her naked body on a nightly basis.

"Dan, I'm pregnant," she announced one night while sitting on the side of the bed.

Dan leaned back from the sink to stare out of the bathroom door at her. The toothbrush was paused in midstroke on his his upper front teeth and toothpaste dribbled down his chin.

"You're wh-" he mumbled, stopping to spit the toothpaste out and hastily rinse out the rest. "You're what?"

Tsunade's body stiffened when he sat down on the bed beside her. She stared at the bare skin of their thighs that touched. "I'm pregnant," she repeated, feeling her heart stop beating during the deafening silence that followed.

"That's great," he breathed, wrapping his arms around her. "That's wonderful!" he yelled with excitement, standing to his feet and pulling her with him. "I'm going to be a father! Oh, Tsunade! You've made me the happiest man on earth!"

For the first time, Tsunade felt some small amount of happiness about the pregnancy when Dan dropped to his knees in front of her to push up her nightgown so he could lavish her rounded belly with kisses. She stroked her fingers through his long pale blue hair while he chatted away happily to their baby. Their baby. At least she hoped it was _their _baby. Her belly felt as if it were doing a literal flip when she thought of the devastation it would cause Dan if the baby were not his. Their relationship would be over and so would her life. Her abdomen fluttered again and she realized it was much more than nerves.

"Dan! I felt the baby move!" she exclaimed, laughing when he began to paw her belly in a panic to feel it too. "It's too soon silly! Give it a few months. You'll be able to feel him."

"Him? Are you sure it's a boy?" he asked, rubbing her belly as if she were a good luck charm.

"Uh huh," she responded affirmatively. "Quite sure. Women know these things."

Tsunade sighed and tried to push back the sadness that threatened to drown her once more. Sorrow had become a constant companion for her. Sighing noisily again, the one thing she did not want to know with any certainty was whose baby this could be. She had learned all too late that sometimes knowing the truth is not a good thing and can be more damaging in the long run. She should never have told Jiraiya the truth about her feelings. If she had not, she would not be trapped in her present dilemma that had no escape.

~...~

The happy couple devoted themselves to making preparations for the baby which helped them grow closer in their relationship. Surprisingly enough, the impending birth of the baby seemed to be a healing balm to their ailing souls and strength for their weakened relationship. Buying baby clothes, putting together furniture, and decorating the baby's room gave them not only a common goal to strive for but something good to look forward to in their lives together.

During the eight month, their world encountered a serious complication but not with the pregnancy. Without warning, Dan was called on a mission to go to the IWA-Kon border. His mission was simple and seemed safe: patrol the border and report any findings of things that he noticed as being 'off' or unusual in the slightest. As a sensor type shinobi, this would be as easy for him as a walk in the park. He prepared for what he thought would be an easy and relatively short mission. Kissing Tsunade on the lips then giving her huge belly a kiss and a rub for good luck, he left his pregnant and ready to pop wife with the promise that he would be back before the birth of their child. Sadly in life, things never go the way they are planned. The mission took longer than expected and Dan was stuck on the border throughout Tsunade's last month of pregnancy. The birth of their child came without the arrival of Dan.

For a week after the child's birth, Tsunade would hold their newborn child while standing at the front window of their house for hours awaiting the arrival of her beloved Dan. For two weeks straight, she sent letters to the border that went unanswered.

The night before her child turned a month old, the Hokage Sarutobi, came to visit her at the Senju compound complete with the ANBU flanking him while he stood at her front door. Tsunade glanced briefly at the masked guards, perplexed by the necessity of their presence for a simple visit. A sick feeling twisted her insides with the realization this was much more than a friendly social call.

"Sensei, what brings you here tonight?" she asked, swallowing to force down the lump in her throat. "Are you here to see my bundle of joy?"

Sarutobi cleared his throat as emotion bubbled from deep within as her fake tone of happiness lagged and fell on the word joy. He pushed himself into a cold, unfeeling place emotionally to complete his duty as Hokage and deliver the tragic news to her. Steeling his eyes to hide any emotion, he took a deep breath before saying in carefully measured words, "Last night during the last day of patrol duty..." He paused, praying quickly for strength to continue. "Dan was killed in action."

"No," she gasped, turning around to put the infant she was holding in the cradle Dan had made. "He can't be dead."

Sarutobi entered the house invited when he saw the woman grow pale and drop to her knees. Putting his arms around her, he offered her what consolation he could. He hated being the one who had to give people the messages of their loved one's deaths. This one had been particularly trying for him since she was one of his former students.

"Sensei, what did you say? I must have heard you wrong," Tsunade said, her voice weak and far off as if she were talking in a dream. No. This was a nightmare. "Dan can't be dead. We have a child. We're getting married. He just can't be dead."

Sarutobi sighed with the heavy burden of helping her to understand. He knew that the shock had mangled her thoughts and her brain's ability to comprehend. Giving her a quick hug, he said, "I'm sorry, Tsunade." Pulling Dan's hai tai from inside of his Hokage robes, he placed it carefully in her hands before he stood to his feet.

"No," she breathed, holding it to her chest and shaking her head. Raising her teary eyes to the man, she continued shaking her head while repeating one word while her voice steadily rose in volume. "No, no, no, no, NO, NO, NOOOOO!"

Tsunade lurched forward coming to her hands and knees as she screamed like an animal caught in a trap of soul killing pain that there was no escape from. Pounding the floor with her fists, she destroyed the wooden planks reducing them to splinters. She was alone in the world now. There was no one to love and no one to love her. She howled and cried in her anguish never hearing the terrified wails of her infant.

Sarutobi dismissed his ANBU guards, and picked up the baby to comfort him while the child's mother wallowed in her pain alone for a time. Going to the baby's room, he laid him down in the bed once the child was calm and no longer crying. Returning to his student that he cared for dearly, he pulled her to her feet to hold her in his arms like a father comforting his daughter. He held her until she stopped crying which seemed to take hours. After helping her to the bed, he waited for her to sleep which came in the form of passing out from the exhaustion of expressing her deep sorrow.

Throughout the next week, Tsunade refused to get out of bed. Shizune, Dan's neice, had come to tend to her and the baby. Her thoughts ran rampant as did her emotions. She swung back and forth between fierce anger and soul crushing sadness that coincided with her dark depression and thoughts of suicide. One single thought came to the forefront and plagued her mind the most. The baby. Glaring at the child asleep in the cradle in her room, she hated him. She had not even bothered to name him yet. At first she had waited for Dan to return to help her pick out a name. Now, she simply did not care. There was no doubt in her mind who the father of that child could be. If she had never slept with Jiraiya and gotten pregnant, Dan would be alive. Kami was punishing her in the worst way possible for her betrayal. She hated Jiraiya, and she hated his child.

Shizune grew afraid for the child and for Tsunade. She took the baby to Sarutobi, telling him all of the horrible things she would hear the woman muttering during her fitful sleep.

Growing curious of the possibility of the child being Jiraiya's and not Dan's, he secretly conducted tests to find out. To his dismay, he discoverd the child indeed belonged to the Toad Sage.

Shizune was disturbed that Tsunade did not even seem to notice the absence of her own child. She had left the child in the care of Sarutobi especially upon finding out the true identity of the baby's father. Her worry and concern for the woman she idolized grew exponentially each day.

Tsunade was nearly driven mad by the combination of her guilt and grief. One day it was as if something snapped inside of her brain. She suddenly got out of bad, took a shower, and packed her bags. Upon informing Shizune she was leaving, she extended the girl an invitation to come along with her through her travels while giving her a deadline of an hour to decide.

In a panic, Shizune rushed to the Hokage's office to inform him of the woman's intentions. She quickly scrawled out a message, pleading with him to get it to Jiraiya. Then she ran back to Tsunade's house to pack her things for the trip. She did not know where they were going but there was no question in her mind that she had to go along to protect and take care of the woman she loved like a sister. Someone had to be there to help her on her long journey back to sanity.

Sarutobi read the note addressed to Jiraiya which was pleading with him to take the baby and raise him so the child could have at least one of his parents. A tear formed in his eye when he read the words Shizune had written begging the man to forgive Tsunade, to understand that she was not well because of all the things she had suffered (the war, the drunken carousing in Hinode, the unintentional pregnancy, the betrayal, and Dan's shocking death). She ended the note with a promise that she would do her best to help restore the woman to a right state of mind. Upon reading that, Sarutobi decided he would call Jiraiya to return to the village. He wanted to be able to keep a watchful eye on the father and the son who was bound to be special considering his genetics.

Sarutobi knew Jiraiya would not be easy to find considering he was a truly broken man who had virtually gone into hiding. After the brutal words from Tsunade that had butchered his heart, he had not been the same. He was quieter, less boisterous, and definitely not as happy. His penchant for voyeurism had disappeared, and he kept his hands to himself when in a room full of pretty women. Sarutobi had rarely seen him in the last 10 months, since Jiraiya preferred to stay as far as possible from Konoha. At first, he had returned occasionally to receive orders for missions or updates on Tsunade. Once he employed the use of his extensive Spy Network to obtain freedom to move around with no problems, he did not return at all. Sarutobi sighed sadly, wishing things were different between his students. He guessed that sometimes these disastrous things happen between the members of inter team relationships since they're most often caught in life or death situations and emotions had a tendency to run quite high.

A few weeks went by with no response and Sarutobi had all but given up his last shred of hope for the man's return. It was a typical sunny day in the village of Konoha when a crazed white haired man rushed through the gates undetected because he was nothing more than a green blur. Sarutobi was almost frightened out of his Hokage's robes when the doors to his office were flung open with such force the hinges squealed in protest and threatened to break.

"Where is my son?!" the Sannin bellowed with vigor he had not felt in almost a year. The knowledge that he had a son had restored life to his dead heart that had still continued to beat within his chest.

Sarutobi called an ANBU and asked for the child to be brought in. With less than a two minute time gap, the three month old child was delivered to the impatiently waiting arms of the thrilled father. Seeing his son, Jiraiya wept openly not giving a damn who saw. His emotions that had been tightly locked inside for so many months came spilling out in the form of tears that flowed freely down his face. After gradually regaining his composure, he studied the small baby in his arms. His fingers stroked the tiny cheek that felt so soft reminding him of the mother's skin. Tears threatened to fall again but he held them at bay to study his child. The baby looked her like her which brought a breath stealing stab of pain to his soul but he would always have a reminder of the woman he loved since he could not have her. He would be left with a living breathing part of her that was also mixed with him so what more could he ask for? Although their love had not survived but for a night, this child would go on forever as proof of that in many generations to come. This child needed him. But he needed the baby more to have a reason to go on living and return to being the Pervy Sage he should be.

~\..'../~

* * *

**8 YEARS LATER**

A small yellow haired boy rushed to his home in a confused state of deep sadness. He flung open the door and ran straight into the arms of his surprised father.

"Minato, what has you so upset?" Jiraiya asked with deep concern as the child turned his tearful blue eyes up to look at his father.

"Why don't I have a mommy?" he asked bluntly, pausing to hiccup from his profuse tears. "Where is she? Why isn't she here with us? Does she love me? How come you never talk about her?" Each question came out faster than the other.

Jiraiya had been dreading this day for so many years now. He just didn't have the heart to tell him the truth about his mother and had decided to avoid the whole issue for as long as possible. Long ago he had determined in his heart to wait for the child to ask before bringing it up. Today was that day. It was time to suck it up and be a man, but dole out the truth to the child in a way that his little mind and emotions could handle it. Taking his boy by the shoulders and looking into his blue eyes, he inhaled deeply before beginning.

"Son, before I tell you this, I want you to promise me not to speak until I'm done, okay?" He waited while Minato nodded his head furiously with a small smile. Picking up the child to carry him to the couch, he decided it would be best if they were both sitting down for this. Positioning the child next to him, he prepared to have a man-to-boy chat with his son. "Your mother is still alive and her name is Tsunade."

Minato's eyes grew wide at the mention of that name. He was blown away by this revelation and quite happy too. His mother was another Sannin!

"The reason I never told you about her is because...," Jiraiya paused, debating the wisdom of full disclosure. Taking another deep breath, he continued. "She wanted nothing to you with you, Son. It wasn't her fault really. She just couldn't handle..." He stopped before too many words spilled out. Why should he make excuses for her? It had been eight damn years since then. At some point she needed to come to her senses and become a decent human being again. The least she could do would be to visit her son to explain why she abandoned him. "She left the village. Your Sarutobi-jiji sent me the news about my son so I came. I came because you needed me. And I needed you," Jiraiya finished with a small sad smile while looking at his son's face. "I don't know where she is or how to find her."

A range of emotions played across the child's face, quickly shifting from bewilderment to happiness then to sadness. Minato took a noisy breath before blurting, "BUT DAD! Maybe we should look for her! Maybe she wants me now! She has probably been busy and since she hasn't seen me this long I'm sure she wants to see her son! And you always say that I am an excellent son and the best child any parent would want!"

Minato had gushed with such passion and belief in his words it almost made Jiraiya believe them. However, from experience he knew this was not true. A few years back, Jiraiya tried to send letters to Tsunade, via toad summon, including a few photos of their child showing how he had grown during her absence. At first the letters went unanswered. Eventually, the toads started returning, completely traumatized and scared out of their wits. Each began their story of a near death experience by declaring, "That horrible blond lady almost killed me!" Finally, one returned unscathed carrying a message from Shizune. He would be the last toad Jiraiya would send. The note advised him not to send anymore messages to her mistress who would kill the toads and send them back with their legs in a separate package after they had been ripped off. On a more personal level, she informed him that Tsunade still wanted nothing to do with him or the child she hated as much as she hated Jiraiya.

"So dad what do you think?" he inquired enthusiastically, vibrating with excitement. "I'm sure she wants to see her wonderful son now! Please dad...can I send her a letter? Please, please, pullleeezzzeee," he begged activating his puppy-dog jutsu to which no adult and certainly not his father could withstand.

Jiraiya gave his son a sharp look for using such an unfair but effective technique. He reluctantly agreed and summoned one of his toads, "Kuchiyose No Jutsu."

Gamatoro puffed in with a cheery, "Hey Jiraiya, what can I do for ya?"

"I need you to deliver this to Tsunade. It's a letter from our son. Can you do this for me please?" The puppy dog jutsu did not quite have the same effect coming from the father.

Gamatoro gave him a suspicious glare before folding his red arms over his orange chest while shaking his head. He was no fool, and he knew what Tsunade had threatened to do to any toad who dared to attempt to give her a message from Jiraiya. He was pretty sure the same threat would carry over to the son.

"I'm sorry, Jiraiya, but no. I like my legs right where they are...attached to my body and functional," Gamatoro said.

"Well, what if you give the message to Katsuya or any of the other slugs and tell them it's from the Hokage. Im sure they will agree and deliver the message for us."

"But won't that put an innocent slug in danger?"

"Does it matter?"

Gamatoro happily agreed upon knowing he would be safe and puffed out of existence to comply with the request.

Barely an hour passed by before a response arrived. Gamatoro looked a bit shaken but his legs were where they should be. He proceeded to complete the delivery of the message Katsuya had given him, both verbal and written. He eyed the hopeful Minato warily before resorting to whisper things not meant for the ears of a child into Jiraiya's ear.

The man cringed from all of horrible things Tsunade had said. It brought back the terrible memory of that last day with her and the verbal abuse that had ensued before she returned to Konoha. He held the written message in his hands and crumpled it without looking at it but it was too late. His son had seen the paper and asked to read it. Wasting time by smoothing out the wrinkled paper, he reluctantly handed over the paper to the hopeful boy knowing that hope was about to be crushed.

Joyously Minato started reading it. His eyebrows drew together in confusion and a frown replaced the happy smile that had been on his lips. Tears gathered in his eyes, but he was still unsure about what he had read. Clutching the note tightly in his little hand, he whispered, "She doesn't want me. Why doesn't she want me?"

"It's not your fault, my son. I'm not sure who's fault it is to be honest," he murmured as guilt crept over him in its usual stealthy manner. "Please remember that you are a great son...you are _my_ son. Any loving parent would be happy to have you. I know I am."

Minato cried onto his father's broad shoulder while his little heart shattered into pieces. He regretted ever asking about his mother. He released the note from his hand and it dropped to the floor. The wrinkled paper lay open to reveal the words Tsunade had written.

_I have no son. That boy is YOUR son - NOT mine. The only man I ever loved is dead. DO NOT message me again. I hate you, Jiraiya. Stop ruining my life. _

_~\..'../~_

* * *

**15 YEARS LATER**

"DAD!"

A man with a long white ponytail in addition to wild spiky hair turned around searching for the direction from which his son's voice had come. Had he been hearing things? He continued on his path toward the Hokage tower to turn in his latest spy report. Jumping onto the rooftops to speed his rate of travel, he finally made it to the Hokage's office and jumped through the window to land inside. He cocked his head to the side when a confusing sight met his eyes.

Sitting in the Hokage's seat was a red headed woman he easily recognized as his son's wife, although she did not seem to recognize him. He knew the woman really loved him but detested his self proclaimed title of super-pervert. After those thoughts left his head, he gathered his wits about him and asked, "Kushina-chan, what are you doing in the Hokage's seat? And where is Minato and Sarutobi Sensei?"

Jiraiya's befuddlement increased when the woman stared at him suspiciously as if he were an unwelcome intruder. He knew that the Hokage seat was being given to a successor because he was given the opportunity to claim it but declined. He also knew a few of the other people in the running for the position. But having been outside the country for the last eight months while busy spying for Konoha had left him a bit out of touch with what was going on in his home village. Could he really be _that_ out of touch with things? Had that much changed during his absence? He found the possibility a bit embarrassing and did not like being left so far out of the loop.

Kushina stared at him finding it difficult to maintain the frown and blank look in her eyes. She and Minato had been planning this little surprise for Jiraiya in anticipation of his return. Allowing a big grin to spread across her lips and a devious twinkle to come into her eyes, she snapped her fingers and exclaimed, "ANBU!"

Eight ANBU appeared from nowhere at her beckoning to surround the white haired 'intruder.'

"Who is this man?" she demanded to know in an authoritative voice.

ANBU Cat responded, "Hokage-sama, you know this man. This is Jiraiya-sama, your father-in-law."

Kushina rolled her eyes upward, tapping her finger to her chin as she pretended to think. With a feigned expression of ignorance, she barked indignantly, "WHO? Are you sure I should know this man? I know a self proclaimed super-pervert named Jiraiya. Surely you're not insinuating _that_ man is my father-in-law? This man must be an imposter! Arrest him!" she ordered coolly almost giving in to the laughter that wanted to be released.

All of her ANBU instantly went into combat mode and approached Jiraiya slowly. Jiraiya held up his hands in surrender. Glancing at his daughter in law, he yelled, "Kushina-chan, what the hell?! It's me Jiraiya! Call them off! And how can you control them?! You're not the Hokage!" he said the last part accusingly as if she were a little girl playing pretend.

Kushina could no longer contain the laughter. Her huge grin split and she howled with laughter at the mixture of terror and confusion on her stunned father-in-law's face. She laughed until there were tears in her eyes while the white haired man looked around in a silent plea for someone to explain to him what the hell was going on.

"Dad! It's nice to see you again! How was your last spy mission?" Minato asked when he came through the door as if nothing had happened.

Jiraiya glared at the clueless blonde. Did he even see that there were ANBU surrounding him and ready to attack? He moved to the boy with shocking speed to slap him across the back of his head.

"WHAT THE HELL, MINATO?!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. "You two call this a welcome home?! Your wife sicced the ANBU on me or did you really not see that?! And would someone please explain WHY THE HELL SHE IS SITTING IN THE HOKAGE'S SEAT!" He paused momentarily to grab his son by the ear, twisting it a bit. "I thought you were going to become the Yondaime. What the hell happened?"

Then everything clicked into place. The hamster was on the wheel and it all made sense as the truth of the matter dawned on him the like the golden sun on the earth. Turning to stare at his daughter-in-law, he stuttered,"K-Kushina-chan, y-you're the n-new Ho-Hokage?"

The only response she could offer was to start laughing again. Kushina informed her husband of the prank through mirthful tears and intermittent giggles. Minato joined in laughing with her which only served to anger the white haired man further.

Jiraiya was pissed. He had been humiliated and there seemed to be no end to his degradation. It was an outrage and a disgrace for a Sannin of his caliber to be insulted this greatly...and by the so called leader of this village too. Mumbling under his breath about disrespectful young brats who should respect their elder, he huffed out of the office to go home where he could gather what little dignity he might have left.

Kushina finally stopped laughing and ran after the incensed man to pull him back into her office. She hugged him and offered a more suitable greeting. "Welcome back, Dad! Sorry about the small prank. And yes I am the Yondaime Hokage."

Jiraiya decided he would let it go…this time. He returned the embrace sticking his tongue out at his son who simply rolled his eyes. Once Kushina was seated behind the desk, he reverted to a more professional demeanor to report his findings and other occurrences.

Minato and Kushina took turns explaining Sarutobi's reasons for why he chose Kushina as the new Yondaime. Jiraiya listened attentively, fascinated with the reasoning that had gone into the decision. It was a truly startling choice because a woman was Hokage which was something that had never been done before. Jiraiya was definitely not sexist especially since he knows and respects plenty of strong women. Many of those women can kick some serious ass and had shown him first hand. The fact that Kushina was also a foreigner made the choice even more shocking. Then Jiraiya was told of new treaties with Uzushiogakure and a shinobi exchange program that both countries enacted to celebrate the anniversary of repelling Uzu's three Nation strike against them with the help of their ally, Konoha.

Jiraiya was speechless. So much change had occurred in a measly eight months. Although the news about the shinobi exchange program with Uzu had him smiling happily. The last time he was there, he had met a beautiful redheaded woman near his age. She reminded him of a redheaded Tsunade but without the super strength and healing with more Fuinjutsu and Kenjutsu called Kikyo. Remembering Tsunade's harsh treatment of his son, he noted that Kikyo also had a whole lot less bitch in her. In addition to all of that, the pretty lady happened to be a third removed aunt of Kushina. He happily used this information to mercilessly tease his daughter-in-law. She would issue a response later by throwing him into the Bathhouse, tied up and gagged with a huge sign hanging around his neck that read "I'm a super pervert. Get your free breast exams here." It seemed like one day that man would learn a lesson but so far it had not happened. Finally, after Jiraiya was brought up to speed on all of the news about government and local occurances, Kushina and Minato were ready to leave. She whispered something into Minato's ear which brought a big smile to her husband's face.

Minato cleared his throat to make the announcement, "Dad, we have one last big piece of news to share with you. One that I am sure will make you happy but I want you to guess."

Jiraiya released a noisy sigh. He was tired and in no mood for guessing games. Judging by the glowing expressions on the faces of the young people standing it front of him it must be something really great. The way they held hands and kept glancing at each other also told him it was something very personal. After entertaining many ideas that came to mind of the perverted sort, he blurted," Kushina is going to let me compare her bust size to her Aunt Kikyo!"

His lecherous grin could not get any bigger because it was already about to split his face in half and his mind was still operating in super pervert mode, TIMES TWO! He had successfully discovered a new level of perversion greater than even super perv. He was an amazing man and so very proud of himself. Imagine Goku going super saiyan, but instead it would be Jiraiya passing out and lying on the ground from a twin fountain of blood from his nose.

Kushina was less than amused by his perverted and terribly stupid answer. She commenced to whacking her father-in-law throughout her office before sending him crashing through the wall of not only her office but through the walls of three other buildings. Leaning down to see him through the holes his body had created she shrieked, "We're trying to be serious and share something special with you, you idiot!"

"No, Dad, that's not it," Minato stated calmly when his father returned from his unexpected flight.

Jiraiya rubbed his sore head while staring at his son in disbelief. Could the boy really be that blond? Had he not just seen his father get his ass handed to him on a silver platter by the new Hokage who also happens to be his daughter in law? YES, he knew that was the WRONG answer!

"The news is Kushina and I are going to have a baby!" he exclaimed with excitement. "You're going to be a JIJI!"

Jiraiya made the emotional leap from hapless confusion to MEGA happy. He ran up to them and hugged them both tightly. "Oh, Kushi-chan Im so happy for you and my little Minato!"

"Really, Dad?" Minato's face colored with a crimson blush from Jiraiaya's fatherly outburst which made his wife giggle.

"Hey, son, your face matches your wife's hair." Jiraiya felt the need to point out which only made it worse. Eyeing them both cautiously, he entered full on parental mode. "So what are you naming the child? Who is going to take care of the child since Kushina is Hokage and Minato is a Jonin Sensei? Who's going to teach him or her how to be a shinobi? Can I teach him or her the toad summoning contract? Can he or she be my new apprentice?"

Jiraiya spit all of those questions in a matter of mere seconds. The overwhelmed and slightly befuddled parents smiled at him and answered in unison, "Sure Jiji."

Pride swelled within Jiraiya's broad chest and happiness made him feel warm all over from the knowledge of the impending arrival of his new grandchild. His head filled with all sorts of ideas for being a super awesome Jiji to his super awesome grandchild! They left the office heading to Minato and Kushina's home to have dinner and celebrate the great news. Jiraiya indulged in literally shouting his happy news from the rooftops of Konoha much to the chagrin of his son and daughter-in-law.

"Ow!" Minato muttered when Kushina punched him in the arm.

"I told you it was too soon to tell anyone. Especially him," she hissed unsure if her husband could hear her over the maniacally yelling grandfather.

Minato only smiled. Although he was not entirely pleased with his father's overenthusiastic reaction, he was glad his father was so ecstatic about the news.

~\..'../~

**8 MONTHS LATER**

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" yelled a young genin team and their jounin after receiving their mission from the village leader. They quickly exited her office to begin their very first mission.

Kushina was within the last few days of her pregnancy. She was miserable, always feeling ranky and irritated. Her feet hurt, her back ached, and every time the baby moved it was sheer agony. Her body had also began gearing up for the labor and she was experiencing mild contractions. It had been necessary to cease her training due to her advanced state of pregnancy for the baby's safety and her own. This made her angry but the constant mood swings and uncontrollable bladder made her furious. Since she could not train to release her frustrations, she turned to her husband. At first he was thrilled with the extra carnal encounters that always left him breathless and with a smile on his face. However lately, he found himself needing an afternoon nap because of his wife's insatiable _need_ for stress relief.

She was tired of being pregnant! Kushina pouted as she gazed out of the window of her office. She watched many of the village families as they walked together, some hand in hand, on their way home from work or school to relax and enjoy being together after a long day. She rubbed her belly, receiving a kick from the baby inside in response.

"You're ready to come out too aren't you?" she cooed, patting her swollen tummy to receive more kicks from her son. "I can't wait to hold you in my arms."

The prospect of being a mother filled her with such joy. Her family would soon grow to three. Allowing her mind to wander, she envisioned a future for her family. Her mind filled with possibilities that seemed to be varied and limitless. The thought of having two or three more children with her handsome blond husband formed and along with it visions of little bitty blondes and redheads running around and laughing while playing happily in their home. As their mother and also the leader of the village, she would protect them with all she had. She glanced around her peaceful village one more time while waiting for her husband and father-in-law who were coming by to pick her up to go to a local ramen bar, Ichiraku's. Oh, how she loved RAMEN! And by Kami, she was going to have some today. Here lately, she could not get enough of the stuff.

The door opened and her husband peeked in. Kushina smiled when he sweetly called, "Kushi-chan ready to go?"

Kushina nodded and stamped the last bit of her paperwork before standing up to look at her calendar. _October 10...so close to my due date. Only three more days! _She walked out of the door. The next three days were the last happy days she would remember with her family for some time to come.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This chapter introduces the OC and another character who is kind of an OC but not really - there's a note at the end to explain that. Thanks to Firetemplar415, my co-author and man with the plan who is pushing me right along and keeping me on track.

* * *

Kushina awoke with a burning sensation in her throat while being overwhelmed with the urge to vomit. Pushing herself to a sitting position, she cautiously scooted her big pregnant body to the edge of the bed being as careful as possible to not wake her sleeping husband. He had warned her not to have that fifth bowl of ramen but she dearly loved the stuff, especially now. A smile touched her lips when she thought of Teuchi good-naturedly complaining that she was going to put him out of business before the baby was born because she was eating so much. Soon she would no longer be pregnant and her eating for two excuse would not suffice to account for her big appetite. Of course she was hoping that along with her out of control cravings, all of the other aches and pains of pregnancy would be gone too. Biting her lower lip to hold back the cry of pain, she rubbed her belly that was hard as a rock from the contraction that had seized her body.

"Oh, Kami," she gasped, feeling something wet trickling down her leg. Breathing deeply, she blew out each breath loudly while concentrating on the gradually releasing contraction.

"Kushi-chan, what is it?" Minato sleepily mumbled, getting out of the bed.

"It's time, Minato-kun," she murmured, moving back to the bed before the next contraction gripped her in its painful clutches.

"Time for what?" the sometimes oblivious blonde asked, assisting her with getting back into the bed. "What is all of this wet stuff on the floor?"

"My water broke. The baby is coming. Please, go get - "

"WHAT?!" he exclaimed, cutting her off in mid sentence.

Kushina rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. She could feel the next labor pain coming on as the muscles over her belly started to tighten. "Please, go get Biwako and Taji," she requested referring to her midwives.

Biwako is the wife of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime, and the woman to which Kushina had trusted her life and that of her child during this pregnancy and would again with the birth. Taji is their daughter in law and wife to Daitaro Sarutobi*.

Kushina felt as if she were being squeezed by a massive invisible hand as the muscles continued to tighten through the contraction. Puffing out her cheeks, she resisted the urge to scream as the agony peaked then began to slowly subside.

"Tell Mikoto. She is my best friend after all," she murmured, leaning back to rest the few precious moments between contractions.

Mikoto had just given birth a few days before to her second son, Sasuke. She was also a member of Kushina's private and very secret personal bodyguards. Despite her recent labor and being a new mother, she would still be ready and primed to protect her friend and Hokage from any outside threats that might appear during the labor.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had called a meeting several days ago to alert everyone of the possible dangers of the impending birth. Jiraiya and Minato would be in attendance to help keep the seal intact to hold Kuruma within Kushina. His wife and daughter-in-law, the best midwives in the village, would be there to assure the safety of the mother and child throughout the birth process. Kushina had later spoken with her trusted four woman security squad that consisted of Mikoto Uchiha, Hitomi Hyuga, Inari Yamanaka, and Yoshino Nara. Their presence would be necessary to repel any outside threats who might use the opportunity to free the demon from the weakened jinchūriki to use for their own evil purposes. Many safety measures had been put into place in an attempt to cover all possibilities of something going wrong with the anticipated and somewhat feared birth of the extraordinary child.

Meanwhile, an elated and anxious father used his ability to transport through space to alert the necessary parties of his wife's condition. He wanted to get back to her as soon as possible. The first person he informed was his own father.

"Dad, Dad, DAAAAADDDDDD!" he yelled, not allowing the front door to stop him as he simply burst right into his father's house.

Jiraiya looked up from the manuscript he had been writing as a flash of yellow entered his office. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow as the man who appeared ready to burst with happiness stood in front of his desk.

"It's time! He's coming!" Minato yelled, seeing his father's face twist in puzzlement. "THE BABY, JIJI!"

"Oh?" Jiraiya calmly put away the manuscript while the full impact of the announcement soaked through his thick skull. His eyes widened, and he jumped up from his desk. "Oooohhhhh! What the hell are you waiting for, Son! Go get everyone else! I'll go watch over, Kushina-chan."

~...~

"Mitsu! Mitsu!"

Mitsukuma groaned and rolled over. Surely it could not be morning and time for school already. Why was her mother waking her up?

"What is it, Mama?" the child yawned, rubbing her eyes with her tiny fists.

Taji smiled down at her five-year old daughter. She had hated to wake the child, but upon receiving the news of Kushina-sama being in labor she knew she had to. Her daughter had been looking forward to the birth of the child and would never forgive her if she was not awakened and taken along. Besides, her daughter had been there with her while tending to the woman through the whole pregnancy. She could not be more proud of her daughter for taking small steps in her education to be a midwife just like her mother and grandmother.

"It's time, Mitsu-chan, the baby is coming," she said in a gentle voice, laughing lightly when the excited child flung back the covers to leap out of the bed.

"Let's go, Mama!" the child exclaimed, grabbing her mother's hand.

"Do you really think this is a good idea? Isn't she a little young?" Daitaro asked, meeting them at his daughter's bedroom door.

"Your mother started training me when I was this age. She's already been in school for ninja training for a year, so what's the problem?" his spunky wife demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

Daitaro smiled, his dark almost black eyes looking over his determined wife then down to his daughter. His concern was not so much about what his daughter would be exposed to because of biological part of the birth but of what could be unleashed because of it. What if that demon got loose? He could not bear it if anything happened to his family. Taji was still his greatest love and the most beautiful woman in the world to him with her big chocolate brown eyes and hair of the same color. His daughter was going to look just her mother someday. Kissing them both, he sent them on their way to assist with the birth of the Hokage's child.

~...~

Kushina lay in the bed panting, surrounded by people who loved her and were willing to protect her life and the baby's with theirs. She patted the cheek of the child sitting next to her who was holding her hand while she endured yet another contraction. Once the wave of agony ebbed, she looked up to see her husband and father-in-law quietly talking in the corner of the room. Minato appeared ready to faint and his father was patting him on the back comfortingly. Her guards were outside, strategically positioned around the house. They were to remain hidden from everyone including the people in the house. Just as another labor pain began, she was assaulted with a searing white-hot pain that felt like something ripped deep inside of her.

"Oh, no! No, no, no," Kushina chanted under her breath. Something was wrong.

Mitsukuma put down the wet cloth she had been pressing to the woman's face to cool her down. She placed her hand on the laboring mother's belly feeling around while her mother and grandmother tried to hide their expressions of sheer terror as blood gushed out in a tidal wave of red.

"Mama! The placenta is tearing away!" Mitsu hissed trying to keep her voice low.

"Shush, child!" her grandmother murmured back as not to panic the father and grandfather huddled in the corner.

However, the sudden silence and hushed voices caught the attention of the two men faster than if the women had been yelling. Jiraiya moved first, kneeling down by the bed. He placed his hand on the woman's belly to check the seal on the nine tails'. His dark eyes met hers and his daughter-in-law nodded. Her physical issues were not the only complication; the seal was breaking and the demon was fighting his way to the surface.

Kushina leaned back, breathing deeply as she concentrated on raising her chakra to strengthen the seal. Despite her efforts, she could feel it slowly unraveling. It felt as if the demon was clawing her insides as his power flared and increased the excruciating pain of the oncoming contraction. She dug her fingers into the sheets, thrashing her head as she fought to both maintain her flow of chakra to reenforce the seal and to ride out the contraction.

"Minato! Come here now!" Jiraiya yelled, pressing his hand against her belly to fix the breaking seal while the midwives hurriedly worked to free the baby from her body. The demon was not only trying to break free but he was simultaneously attempting to kill the baby and the mother.

Minato rushed to the bed, carefully moving the child out of way before sitting beside his wife. He pushed the sweaty hair plastered to her forehead out of the way to plant a kiss there. His voice was shaky as he began chanting the words to keep the nine tails' captive. Saving the baby would be left to the midwives while Kushina would have to fend for herself for now.

Kushina threw back her head and screamed from her physical torment that was now coupled with mental travail as she tried to hold back Kuruma. Tears flowed from her eyes and wet her hair as she cried from being tortured so cruelly in body and mind.

"Mitsu! Grab those blankets! The baby's coming!" Biwako yelled, readying herself to catch the baby that was about to be born. "You two hold that damn thing within her. It won't be much longer."

Jiraiya and Minato were both beginning to sweat, their muscles aching from the effort to hold the seal and the demon at bay. The midwives found it a blessing that the men were too preoccupied to panic over the dire and life threatening situation of the mother and child.

Mitsukuma held out her arms that were draped with a blanket, ready to accept the baby. She reached deep inside of herself to find a hidden reserve of strength and courage when her grandmother lifted the bloody baby from between the mother's legs and lay him in her arms. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she began wiping off the baby not only to clean him to stimulate him so he would cry.

"The baby...is the baby okay?" Kushina queried breathlessly, her voice weak because her strength was nearly depleted. Fear swelled within her, giving her a quick boost of strength to lash a chakra chain around the demon within in her to replace the final one he had broken that would have set him free. She lay back heaving for air whlie concentrating on forming the restraints of chakra around him while her husband and father-in-law worked desperately to repair the seal.

Mitsukuma lay the baby in the cradle next to her to retrieve and wrap a clean blanket around him. She noticed the light blue discoloration around his lips and almost screamed for her mother. The baby was limp and not breathing. Somehow maintaining her senses, she covered his mouth and nose with her mouth to blow in gentle puffs of air. She had seen her grandmother do this once to save a newborn that had not yet taken his first breath. Praying to Kami that this would work, she did it again before pausing briefly. She felt the tiny chest rise under her fingers just before he opened his mouth and released a deafening screech. Sitting back on her heels, she allowed the tears of joy to flow down her cheeks.

"My baby! Can I see my baby?" Kushina asked, her voice faint due to her incredibly drained body.

Mitsukuma wrapped up the child before taking him to his mother. Laying him in her arms, she immediately stepped back out of the way to allow the new family to bond. With tears streaming down her face, she looked up at the two women staring down at her with tears in their eyes.

"You are an amazing child," Taji commented, gathering her daughter into her arms. "Oh, Honeybear, I love you. Daddy will be so proud of you."

Biwako patted her granddaughter on the head, feeling the swelling of pride within her own chest. "Well, let's go. We need to leave the family alone so they can get acquainted with their new arrival."

"Mitsu! Please come here," Kushina requested, beckoning the child to her. She smiled down at the sweet child, pulling her closer to kiss her forehead. "Thank you."

Mitsukuma trembled from the adrenaline rush through her little body. Not only had she saved the child, she had gained a very special acknowledgement from the Hokage herself. She loved Kushina-sama, seeing her as a role model and the woman she most wanted to be like. Glancing at her mother, she smiled because she felt a little guilty about that. She wanted to be strong and independent just like her beloved female Hokage. Holding her breath, she waited as the new mother held the baby up for her to get a closer look at him. Earlier she had been too busy trying to save his life to notice how cute he was. The baby had prolific golden fuzz on his head that stuck out in all directions and made him look like a human dandelion. She giggled reaching out to stroke his round cheek. Her eyes filled with tears again when his tiny pink fingers enclosed her small forefinger and held on tightly.

"He likes you," Kushina commented, pressing her palm against the little girl's cheek. "Just as he should. You're going to be a very special person in my son's life considering you helped give him that life."

"Kushina-sama, I-" The words failed Mitsukuma and she bit her lip nervously as she struggled to find the right ones to express her feelings. "Thank you."

"Kushina-sama, we should get you to the infirmary," Taji informed her. She had been checking the woman's vitals while her daughter was talking to her. "You're chakra levels are disturbingly low and you need a blood transfusion."

Kushina nodded, staring down at her son. She could not be happier in this moment despite feeling so exhausted. Positioning the baby on her chest while holding him securely in her arms, she fell asleep to get some much-needed rest while they transported her to the hospital.

~^..^~

During Kushina's extended hospital stay, Hiruzen Sarutobi filled the Hokage's position. A village without a leader is weak and would be a target for all sorts of evil. He visited Kushina daily, giving her progress reports and keeping her informed of all goings on, even the mundane and routine. He brought his granddaughter with him which worked out great for everyone because she played with the baby while the grown ups talked.

Mitsukuma loved Naruto. She would coo and talk to him as if he could understand her. Every time he clutched her finger in his tiny pink fist, her heart melted. She hoped that one day her parents would have a little brother for her but until then Naruto would be her little brother.

Two months later when Taji and the other medical nins were satisfied that Kushina's chakra levels had recovered sufficiently along with her physical health, they released her from the hospital to adjust to being a new mother. However, they did not approve of her returning to her duties as Hokage. It had taken hours, several people, and a few shouted words to get it through to the redhead that she and the baby had nearly died so it was important to take one step at a time when returning to her normal life. Motherhood first, the village second. Until then, Konaha would be under the capable leadership of Hiruzen Sautobi. Minato had laughed at his wife when she had to be reminded that the man had already proven himself as a more than fit leader considering he had been the Hokage before her _**and**_ the man who had chosen her to be his replacement. In her stubborn haste to accomplish her own goals, she sometimes forgot the obvious things. She was just anxious to get back to being the best leader she could be. Looking at the baby in her arms, she realized they were right: motherhood first.

Upon returning home, Kushina walked into Naruto's room taken aback by what she saw. The room had been incomplete before she went into labor. There had been small things left to do like painting and adding accents that were not really important but very cute. Stuffed frogs of various shapes and colors filled one corner of the room. Orange swirls and multi-colored toads had been painted on the walls that were the color of sunshine. Sitting down in the rocking chair, she covered the baby and herself with the fluffy white blanket emblazoned with a large orange swirl. She nuzzled her sleeping son against his soft pudgy cheek before rubbing her chin over his fuzzy velvety head.

"We're home, Naruto. We're home," she murmured, kissing him gently.

"Kushina-chan," Jiraiya called softly, walking into the room. He patted the woman's cheek when he saw how pale and tired she looked. "Why don't you go lay down and rest? I'll take care of him."

Kushina smiled gratefully, standing up to pass the child over to his grandfather. She kissed the big man on the cheek before giggling lightly because she thought the man was going to explode with pride and happiness after getting his hands on his grandson. He loved that child with all of his heart. Jiraiya had always been an excellent and loving father and showed great promise of being an epic grandfather. Despite being a pervert, he was an amazing parent and would be an awesome grandparent. The man never ceased to amaze her. One day he could be giving wise parental advice to keep his son from ruining the rest of his life and the next day he would be taking a chance on his own life by peeping on the ladies in the bathhouse. Shaking her head in resignation, she realized she would never understand that man no matter how hard she tried.

"All right, boy, it's just me and you," Jiraiya murmured, sitting down to lay the baby on his lap. He held the child by the wrists pulling up his hands that automatically balled into little fists. "There ya go, Naruto. You're already showing the signs of being a great ninja someday. Go ahead, hit me,"

Jiraiya jerked the baby's fist toward his face, pretending to be struck. He praised the infant on what a fantastic right punch he had. He continued to play with the baby, telling him all about the fantastic future he would have.

"Oh, Naruto, it's going to be great. You've got the best mom and dad ever! Especially that father of yours. I raised him after all," he chuckled at his own boast. "You're also going to have a cute little babysitter. That Mitsu is going to be a real looker someday so you might want to keep her in mind. She's also an older woman so that makes it even better."

"Matchmaking already, Dad?" Minato inquired, leaning against the doorway.

"Uh, no. Just making a suggestion. It's never too early to start - "

"Start what, Dad?" Minato interrupted, taking his son from his father's arms. "Being a pervert?"

"Hmph! Insolent little whelp," the white-haired man muttered, crossing his arms over his chest while he pouted from the gentle insult. "You turned out just fine, didn't you?"

"Barely and not without plenty of bumps and bruises along the way. It only took me getting my ass beat once to know it was wrong to spy on naked women," he rejoined, bouncing the fussy baby to quiet him down. "Unlike other people."

"Yeah, yeah," Jiraiya muttered, dismissing his son's words with the wave of a hand as if they were an annoying fly buzzing around his head. "What can I say? I'm incorrigible."

"Yes, yes you are," Minato agreed with a chuckle. His attention switched to the sleeping child in his arms. "He's going to be something great isn't he, Dad?"

"Yes, yes, he is."

~^..^~

"Happy First Birthday, Naruto!" everyone yelled in unison.

Naruto began to wail in fear from the abrupt blast of sound. Tears poured from his huge blue eyes that were kissed away by his mother. His father accepted handshakes and accolades from the men present as if he had done something wonderful by bringing the child into this world. Kushina shook her head while wearing a pleasant smile on her face. She would allow him to have his moment of glory because to her he had indeed given her the best gift ever in their small blond son. Jiraiya moved through the crowd patting the men on the back and hugging the women. There were an occasional few women who were the unlucky recepients of unwanted kisses planted on their cheeks. He restrained himself from being too pervy on his grandson's birthday.

Mitsukuma watched the baby from a distance when his mother put him down on the blanket next to the black-haired infant who had turned one just last week. Sasuke Uchiha was a beautiful baby with his glossy black hair and black eyes to match but he could not compare to her Naruto with golden blond hair and gorgeous azure blue eyes. Smiling with the pride of a big sister, she hoped her mother would give her a little brother of her own soon. She observed Sasuke leaning forward to grab a handful of Naruto's spiky blond hair and immediately launched herself toward the children. Before she reach them the little blonde screamed but retailiated by seizing his companion and now combatant by the lip to elicit a scream of pain and annoyance from him.

"Sasuke!" a young male voice exclaimed as Mitsukuma reached the crying children.

"Naruto, let go!" Mitsukuma exclaimed, uncurling his small fingers from the other child's lip.

"Sasuke, that's bad! You don't do that to a friend," the boy adminished, dropping to his knees beside the baby.

Mitsukuma held the sobbing Naruto in her arms as she looked at the boy holding Sasuke. She smiled when her eyes looked into a pair of ebony eyes that were like the ones on the baby he held. Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's older brother: the boy who made her heart beat fast and caused her to forget how to talk. She lowered her eyes from his, feeling the warmth of a blush spreading across her face.

"Is he all right?" she asked, smoothing down the wild hair that just stuck right back up of the baby in her arms. He whimpered, and she rocked him in her arms.

"Oh, he's fine," he answered, patting his baby brother's back as he took comfort in his big brother's embrace. "You're name is Mitsukuma right? You're Naruto's big sister?"

"Yes and no, not really. I feel like I'm his big sister but I'm just his babysitter," she explained, feeling Naruto's little fingers twisting into her hair that lay against her chest.

"Well, he really loves you," he remarked as the small boy snuggled into her.

"You're little brother sure is cute," she complimented, stroking the dark-haired child's cheek with her forefinger to be rewarded with smile. Glancing up at the older brother's face, she received another smile that made her heart skip a beat.

"What's going on over there?" Minato pondered aloud watching the children interacting with each other.

"Dammit!" Jiraiya muttered with irritation. It appeared the girl he had picked out for his grandson was falling for the oldest Uchiha. Forcing himself to relax, he realized there was plenty of time to change that. Unfortunately, the Sannin had a tendency to forget women, at any age, had a mind of their own and liked to use it.

~...~

_One year later..._

Kushina was sitting in the Hokage's office going over paperwork when she heard the pitter patter of little feet down the hall. Sitting back in her chair, she waited for the inevitable.

"Mama! Mamamamama...MAMA!" the two-year old Naruto shouted unnecessarily as he ran down the hall before crashing into her office. Living up to the meaning of his name, he entered the office in a storm of words and activity. He was soaking wet and a puddle was forming on the floor under his feet. Before his mother could ask, he offered an explanation. "Mama! Guess what Mitsu and I did today! She taught me how to swim!" he yelled, waving his arms through the air as if stroking through the water.

The seven-year old Mitsukuma came running in the door after him. Her light skinned cheeks were colored bright red with exertion from chasing after him. She had a towel wrapped around her body but water trickled down her cheeks and neck from her hair that was twisted up into a bun. Rushing around the room behind the vivacious little blonde ball of energy, she held the towel open like a bull fighter holds a cape. She faked him out, dodging around the chair to be in front of him.

"AH HAH!" she shrieked in triumph, wrapping the towel around him. She plopped down on the floor holding onto the squirming, squealing bundle while she tried to dry him off. Glancing up a the very amused Hokage and mother, she mistook the woman's smirk as a sign of irritation. "I'm so sorry, Kushina-sama. He got away from me at the stream."

"It's okay, Mitsu. He's just happy to tell me about his new accomplishment," she giggled as the girl grabbed the escapee who had popped out of the towel and tried to run.

"Lemme go, Honeybear, lemme go!" he protested, wiggling in her arms.

"Fine!" she sighed with exhaustion, releasing the squirming child. She lay back on the floor, attempting to catch her breath. She was tired. How in the world could Naruto not be just a little calmed down?

"Mama! It was great! I swam across the stream without getting carried away. Mitsu says I'm getting strong. Here, feel," he prompted his mother, offering his skinny little arm to feel his bicep.

Kushina tenderly palpated the child's arm sincerely feeling the beginning of little muscles. "Oh! She's right! You're going to be an incredibly strong man someday," she commented, picking him up to sit him on her lap. She peeked over her desk at the tired child laying on her floor. "Mitsukuma, do you want me to call Minato to take you home?"

Mitsukuma sat bolt upright at the mention of the woman's handsome husband. She thought he was the best looking man ever except for her own father of course. "N-no! Th-that will be all right," she stammered, springing to her feet.

Kushina felt the wiggle worm in her lap tear himself from her grip before rushing to his beloved babysitter. She smiled when he flung his arms around the girl's waist to give her a tight hug.

"Thank you, Honeybear for teaching me to swim!" he gushed with excitement, backing up to look at the girl. "See you tomorrow?"

Mitsukuma ruffled his wild golden blond hair before giggling, "Of course! You're my favorite little tadpole!"

"I'm not a tadpole," he pouted, poking out his bottom lip in a pout. He hated it when she called him that. His eyes widened when she leaned down to whisper in his ear.

"But you're _my_ tadpole," she told him, seeing the big grin spread across his face. She returned the smile before turning to bow respectfully to his mother. "Good-bye, Kushina-sama."

"Oh, Mitsu, don't be so formal. You're like a part of the family," she tenderly admonished the child, holding open her arms for her son who was running toward her at full speed. Wide open and full throttle was the only way that boy knew how to operate.

Mitsukuma smiled and waved before running out of the office. She wanted to be like Kushina-sama so badly. Pulling at a strand of her chestnut-brown hair, she sighed sadly. Well, she would just have to cultivate the woman's determination and other admirable traits since she would never have that beautiful auburn hair.

~^..^~

Kushina dropped onto the couch from unadulterated fatigue. Glancing around at the mess surrounding her, she smiled with contentment. Plates of half eaten birthday cake, streamers and balloons, wrinkled wrapping paper, and new toys littered the tables and floor of their living room. Naruto had just celebrated his third birthday. Patting her still flat belly, she smiled with happiness. She had one more surprise for him. Taking a moment to enjoy the peace and quiet, she propped her feet on the table to wait for the wonderful men in her life to return. They had gone to walk Mitsukuma home despite the fact she had come with her parents. Naruto had insisted. A smile played across her lips when she thought about how protective her son had become of his babysitter and constant companion who was eight years old and well on her way to becoming a strong and accomplished kunoichi in addition to being a superb medical nin specializing in pregnancy and childbirth. She scrunched her nose as her thoughts turned to the upcoming chuunin exams. It was also time for her to select from a new generation the women who would be trained as her private guards. Lost in her thoughts, she did not hear the door open as her men returned.

"Kushi-chan, what's wrong?" Minato asked upon seeing his wife's face pinched up in deep thought.

"Oh, nothing. I just have a lot on my mind. Are we still going to tell Naruto our good news?" she inquired, sitting up when Jiraiya entered the room with her son trailing behind.

"MAMA!" Naruto shouted in his customary way. "Guess what? Mitsu is going to be a big sister!"

"So Taji's going to have another baby?" She turned her dark blue eyes to her husband. She had been concerned for her friend after she had experienced the devastation of a miscarriage a year ago.

"Yes. The mother and baby are fine. Actually she does not have very far to go," he added, sitting down beside his wife. "They waited until she was beyond any danger before telling anyone."

"Oh, I see," she mumbled, rethinking her decision to tell their son about her pregnancy so early. Minato and Jiraiya had been happy with the news but not entirely thrilled after what had happened the first time. She and Naruto both had nearly died along with the terrifyingly close call with Kuruma almost breaking free. Could they prevent such a catastrophe a second time?

"What's wrong, Mama? Why do you look so sad?" Naruto asked, pressing his hands to his mother's cheeks. He did not like to see his mother sad.

"Naruto," she began, smiling at her son who blinked at her with his massive cerulean blue eyes that were the same color as his father's. "Mitsukuma isn't the only person who is going to be an older sibling. You're going to be a big brother too!"

"I am," he gasped, rendered speechless for the first time ever in his life. He wrapped his arms around his mother's neck, squeezing her tightly. He let her go and looked at his father and grandfather. "Hey! I'm going to be a big brother!"

The adults laughed at the positively ecstastic child as he commenced to running around the house shouting declarations of "I'm gonna be a big brother!"

~...~

_Three months later..._

"How's Konohamaru?" Kushina inquired as Taji conducted her eight month check up.

"Oh, he's doing fabulous! Such a charmer. The only other time I've seen Mitsu so in love with a child was with Naruto," she said, her hands halting immediately as she felt something strange. Kushina was five months along. How had she missed this before? Her wide startled eyes met those of the mother that clouded with fear.

"What is it? Is there something wrong with the baby?" the expectant mother queried in a rush of panic-stricken words.

"No. There's nothing wrong with the babies," Taji answered, a smile pulling up the corners of her mouth.

"Oh, that's gr-what did you say?" the redhead questioned her midwife. "Babies?"

"Yes. Congratulations! You're having twins!"

* * *

*Daitaro Sarutobi - I completed Kishimoto's job of creating this character who is the other, unnamed son of Hiruzen and Biwako in the series. Daitaro means great first born son. He will be the father of my OC and later be the father of Konohamaru. He is also the older brother of Asuma.


	4. Chapter 4

First I have to thank my idea man who gave me a shove in the right direction with a very important detail in this chapter, the seal. Thank you so much, Firetemplar415. I'd be lost without you on this story because it was your original plan after all. I'm just the surrogate writer giving birth to what your mind first created. Please enjoy the new chapter everyone. And if you don't, eh, it sucks to be you.

* * *

Mitsukuma dug in her heels to keep from being dragged down the street by the energetic blonde who was tugging at her hand. She refused to budge another inch. The child had run her ragged going through every shop in Konoha to find that perfect present for his new siblings that were going to be born in two months. So far Naruto had not found a thing that was good enough despite the fact that they were babies and could not care less as she had reminded him a dozen times. She had never seen the already excitable four-year old so ecstatic before. The closer the time came for the arrival of his brothers or sisters or both, the more manic he became. Her help had been enlisted even more frequently lately in an attempt to keep the boy under control. She had suggested they go out shopping today as a means to keep him busy and to run off some of that nervous energy. At this moment, her stamina was severely depleted and she was running on an adrenaline rush induced by the constant yammering of the hyperactive child. Unfortunately, that had nearly run it's course as well.

"Let's sit down...just for a minute," she puffed, bending over to place her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. Glancing around, she saw an inviting pool of shade under a tree that was growing between two buildings. "Over there. That's a great place."

"I'm thirsty," he whined, poking out his bottom lip in a shameless pout while wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Me too," she mumbled, digging in her pocket for some change. Pointing to the general store, she requested that he go over there to buy them some drinks. Since he was the son of the Hokage after all, all of the villagers were well acquainted with him so it would be no big deal for him to go in there by himself. She knew the shopkeeper would be more than happy to help him.

Once he had raced across the street and disappeared into the store, Mitsukuma hurried to the other side of the street to drop down into an exhausted heap under the tree. She was glad her mother was not here because she would freak out to see her laid out on her back in the cool grass in a public place. After giving her a stern reminder that a lady does not do such things, her mother would have forced her to stand up to go sit primly on the bench in the hot sun. Closing her eyes, she really did not care what anyone thought. Being a lady was not very important to her at this time in her nine-year old life anyway. She was just about to slip into sleep when someone nudged her foot. Snorting loudly from the premature snore that escaped her, she propped herself up on her elbows trying to focus on the person standing above her.

"Hey! What are you - " Her words abruptly halted when her bleary vision cleared and the face of a very amused Itachi Uchiha filled her view. Her face instantly erupted into the flames of a burning blush of embarrassment.

"She's alive!" Sasuke exclaimed, heavily dropping his body down on her belly to hold her face between his little hands.

"Oh, Kami," she groaned when he pushed out what little breath she had left in her lungs after holding it from seeing his big brother.

"Mitsu-chan! I'm so glad you're okay!" he squealed, wrapping his little arms around her neck to give her a crushing embrace. Since he was Naruto's best friend, he had spent quite a bit of time with her as well.

"What are you two doing?" she asked, peeling his arms from around her neck so she could breathe. She smiled at him after running her fingers through his silky black hair. Oh, how she would love to do that to his brother. Coughing a bit to clear her throat, her eyes moved up to the big brother when he spoke.

"We're searching for neko footprints. It's just something we do for fun," Itachi explained, sitting down beside her as his brother proceeded to use her belly as a butt trampoline. "Sasuke, stop that!"

"Ah, it's okay. Him and Naruto do that all the time. I don't mind," she assured him, grabbing the child when he bounced a little too hard and made her ribs ache. "However, they might be getting a little too big to do that."

"There's Naruto. Go get him!" he said with the same tone a person employs to order their puppy to go get a stick.

Mitsukuma could only laugh as she watched the child run toward his best friend who was carrying the biggest ice cream cone she had ever seen. There were some fabulous perks to being the Hokage's son apparently. Good thing he had company to come along to help him eat it. A smile turned up the corners of her mouth when Naruto held it out to Sasuke who took a big bite before pushing it back to his friend.

"Awww," she murmured, feeling all gooey inside from watching the incredibly endearing scene. "They're so cute!"

"I find it kind of nauseating actually," Itachi groaned, holding his abdomen with both arms as an expression of disgust planted itself on his face.

"You would," she grumbled, rolling her eyes. She wanted to plant her foot on his backside. "Boys!"

Itachi suddenly sat up, his body stiff while his sharp black eyes studied something or someone across the street. He looked ready to spring and attack at the slightest provocation.

"What is it?" Mitsukuma asked, attempting to follow his line of vision to see what he was looking at.

"I think I saw someone who's not supposed to be here. Or at least someone the grown ups thought would never come back. Personally, I thought she would be dead by now after hearing my parents talk about her addictions to alcohol and gambling," he stated in a hushed voice as if talking to himself.

"Who? What are you talking about?" she questioned him, keeping her voice low too. When she saw his eyes dart to Naruto she realized whoever it was had something to do with him. Itachi confirmed this when he spoke next.

"Mitsu, take Naruto and Sasuke with you. Go to Jiraiya's house," he ordered her in a voice that did not leave her the option to argue.

Mitsukuma nodded without saying anything in return. Since they were training together, she knew he did not speak forcefully often and when he did it was for a good reason. She also knew he was not given to issuing random orders just to do it. He was an incredibly skilled ninja already but did not feel the need to flaunt it in anyone's face. Getting up slowly, she moved toward the boys who were sharing the ice cream cone and talking at the same time. She wondered how they could hear each other as she began to herd them both toward Jiraiya's house.

"Oh, here, Honeybear," Naruto announced, shoving the bottle of water in her face. "Where are we going?"

"To see Jiji," she told him, looking around them. Itachi was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's onii-san?" Sasuke asked her, jerking on her hand that he held.

Mitsukuma jumped from the touch. She did not even realize the child had taken her by the hand. There was something going on and she had no clue what it was about which was really freaking her out especially after Itachi's cryptic words and strange reaction.

"He's checking on something. He will be along to get you later," she assured him as they walked.

"What's it like being a big sister?" Naruto inquired. He had grown bored with the conversation but was looking forward to seeing Jiji; he was always happy to see him.

"Why? You thinking of becoming one?" she joked, relaxing a little when he gave her a grumpy look that made her laugh.

"I am going to be big brother," he proclaimed proudly, puffing out his chest.

"And you'll be a great one too," she said, ruffling his untamed spikes.

"So what's it like? Do you like being a big sister to Konohamaru?" he queried, passing the ice cream cone over to Sasuke who happily took it.

"Oh, I love it!" she exclaimed, before proceeding to tell him about the wonders of being an older sibling. She told him about all the fabulous things she could do like feeding the baby, holding the baby, bathing him, and all of that. When none of that seemed to interest him, she switched tactics to begin laying out all of the mischievous things Naruto could teach his siblings one day like bringing home toads in their pockets to their mother.

"What are you kids doing here?" Jiraiya asked when he saw them enter the yard. He had been sitting under a tree writing.

"Jiji!" Naruto yelled rushing toward the big white haired man to fling himself against his grandfather's wide chest.

"What's up with you boy?" He tickled the child's ribs until he screamed and begged for mercy. When his eyes lit on Sasuke, he said, "So you brought the little Uchiha as well. Where's the big one?"

"Well, Jiraiya-sama, I'm not sure what's going on but..." Mitsukuma continued on to relay the brief but weird conversation she had with Itachi before he disappeared. She almost regretted saying anything as she watched the man's cheery expression slowly morph into a dark look of unmasked anger and dread.

"That bi-" Jiraiya halted his words as he looked at each open and innocent face of the children surrounding him. Standing to his feet, he handed the scroll and his other writing tools to the girl standing in front of him. "Go inside, Mitsu-chan. Stay here and take care of the boys."

"I will, Jiji," she murmured, bowing respectfully to him. This mysterious situation was getting stranger and stranger. What the heck was going on?

...

Itachi carefully stole into the house right behind the big breasted blonde he had been following through the village. He had been warned for months that she might be returning and to keep watch for her. Word had gotten back to the village through creditors searching for her of Tsunade's mounting gambling debts. There had been rumors that she would probably be returning to raid the Senju compound to gather valuable items to sell; most likely to have money to continue gambling rather than to pay off her debts. Therefore, the strongest ninja's of the village had been put on high alert to keep watch for her.

"Why are you following me?" Tsunade asked Itachi turning to face him.

"You're not supposed to be here. This property no longer belongs to you. You're a trespasser," he informed her fearlessly.

"Oh? You're a kid. What are you going to do about it?" she demanded, her golden eyes pinning themselves to his face. Then what he had said sunk into her thick skull. "What do you mean this property is no longer mine? I'm the only living Senju heir. Get the hell out of here kid before I kick your ass."

"What he means," Jiraiya began, appearing out of the shadows to confront her. If he were not so angry he could kill her, he would have enjoyed seeing the expression of fearful shock on her face. As he continued to speak, her face became pink with fury and hatred for the man. "You are _not _the only living heir. You no longer own this home. It is not yours."

"What the hell are you babbling about you bastard? How dare you come into my home and spout such horrible lies and accusations," she snarled through her teeth while her eyes narrowed with her consuming anger.

"There's a son. _Your _son!" he barked, emotionlessly watching the color drain from her face. He made no move to catch her when her body crumpled to the floor under the weight of his declaration. The truth hurts sometimes, and she needed to hear it. One of these days, her tangled brain would grasp the concept and believe it.

"No," she gasped, covering her ears in case he said it again. "I have no son. I have no son!"

Jiraiya wanted to say so much. He could have called her so many awful names and said so many hurtful things just like her. After all these years, she still refused to acknowledge her son. How could she be so heartless? How could this be the woman he once loved so much?

Kakashi Hatake virtually materialized out of thin air as he was prone to do, ruthlessly seizing the woman who had become a pitiful wailing heap on the floor. "What do we do with her?"

"Take her to the Hokage. It's her decision now," Jiraiya said, folding his arms over his chest.

"Her?" Tsunade muttered, glaring at him.

"Yes. Kushina Uzumaki," he announced, unable to stop smiling when her mouth hung open from startlement.

"How did that little idiot become Hokage?" she laughed as if it were a joke.

"Be careful, Tsunade," he warned, shaking his finger in her face. "Not only is she Hokage. She's your daughter-in-law."

"WHAT?!" she screamed indignantly.

This was sure to become the most interesting and traumatizing family reunion ever.

...

Minato stared at the fearsome looking woman who was shoved into the Hokage's office ahead of the small group of men including his father. The thing that made her so damn scary was the expression of unrelenting hostility and hatred she wore on her face that would otherwise have been beautiful. He studied her face, feeling a spark of recognition that he did not understand. His eyes fixed themselves on the unusual amethyst colored mark on her forehead. He recalled his father telling him that his mother had a mark like that called a Yin Seal which is a point through which to gather chakra for dispersing through the user's body later in a powerful release. That's when the realization struck him of her identity.

"Mother," he gasped, making all of the yelling people go silent. He had not even noticed they had all been screaming and on the verge of a physical fight, including his pregnant wife who was being held back by her father-in-law and Kakashi.

Kushina had every intention of killing the woman if she could get her hands on her. Unfortunately, she had been stopped from doing so by the two men who held her arms as soon as she had lunged for Tsunade. For years she had watched her husband endure the awful emotional pain of his mother's cruel abandonment and rejection as a child. During their childhood she had not fully understood his tears which at the time had only enhanced his girlish appearance to her. She had apologized profusely for how she had mercilessly teased him as a child when they began dating years later. Even as a grown man he had battled the residual effects of the deep emotional scars his mother had given him. This had not prevented him being an incredible husband and an amazing father. Maybe it had only served to make him better. And despite his perverse ways, his father had been a great dad to compensate for the evil mother's disavowal of her son. She would never see this woman as anything more than a cold, heartless monster. Tsunade had a lot to answer for and she intended to make her do just that. The fact that it would be by her own hands would make it that much more gratifying.

"Let her talk," Jiraiya said, attempting to pull Kushina back but she refused to move.

"Why? I'm not interested in anything she has to say!" she screamed, jerking her arms out of what the two men thought was a solid grip on her. She whirled around to face them, causing them both to back up a few steps when they saw the wrath intended for Tsunade in her usually soft and kind blue eyes. "There is nothing she can say to change anything! Will her words heal your son's pain?" she bellowed at Jiriaya. Turning back around to stalk toward the object of her loathing, she growled through her teeth. "Words are so useless for her at this time. I say we should just do ourselves a favor and get rid of her...kill her...slowly, to pay her back for the pain she caused her son."

"Kushina, stop it!" yelled Minato in a voice so loud and strong it took her by surprise. "Just stop it!"

"But Minato - " Kushina began reaching toward him. A searing pain ripped through her stomach, and she was sure she had been ripped apart. Hitting her knees, she clutched her belly that was rocklike in its solidness under her hand. She was having contractions that made her back feel as if it were breaking. "No," she gasped, struggling to stand before her husband rushed to her side to help her. "It's too soon. This can't be happening."

"The babies?" He pressed his hand to her belly to feel the muscles unwinding. Just as her large rounded belly softened under his touch, the muscles quickly went rigid again beneath his palm. There would be no stopping this; the contractions were coming too quickly. Sweeping her up into his arms, he looked at his father. "I'm taking her home. Please get Biwako and Taji."

Jiraiya nodded then turned to Itachi. "Mitsu and the boys are at my house. Go get them and bring them to Naruto's house. Take Sasuke and go home." His attention moved to Kakashi and the ANBU who were given the command to take Tsunade to jail and make sure she doesn't escape. "We'll have to continue this family reunion from hell later. And you," he snarled, revealing his teeth to the woman who glared at him. "I'll deal with you myself later as well."

Tsunade puckered her lips and kissed the air. A sinister smile twisted her lips before she spoke. "I'll be waiting with breathless anticipation."

Since there were no children around, he allowed the word he had almost said earlier to pass his lips. "Bitch."

A fleeting expression of stunned emotional distress passed over her face and despite being desperately worried about his daughter-in-law and the babies he did not miss the look. With a mirthless grin, he turned to hurry to his son's house. There were more important matters to attend to at this time.

...

Mitsukuma held the frightened Naruto to her chest as they rushed to his home. Tending to him was holding her panic in check. She was too busy keeping him calm to give in to her own rising fear when she was told by her black-haired escort that Kushina had gone into premature labor. She knew it was way too early for this because the woman was only seventh months along in her pregnancy.

The whole pregnancy had been tenuous to begin with considering there were twins for her body to hold and grow. Her husband and father-in-law had begun making preparations early on, reinforcing the seal on her to hold the demon and checking it constantly to make sure the disaster that almost happened the first time did not occur this time. Her body would be even more weak and under more stress now that she had gone into premature labor after enduring the shock of the return of Minato's mother.

"I have to get Sasuke home," Itachi said, hesitating briefly. Moving closer to her, he leaned forward a bit. "I -"

His words were cut off by a horrifying shriek from within the house. Mitsukuma twisted the doorknob to open the door. "You better go," she told him, holding the trembling Naruto tightly to her chest.

Itachi gave her a quick smile before hurrying away with his little brother on his back who still managed to hang on tightly despite being asleep.

Mitsukuma rushed into the house when another tortured scream filled her ears. She stopped by Naruto's room, sitting the terrified and confused little boy on the bed. Her fingers combed through his spikes as she noticed the tears gathering in the corners of his huge blue eyes.

"Hon-Honeybear, I-I'm sc-scared," he stuttered, the tears breaking free and rolling down his cheeks. His fingers clutched at her hand when she tried to move away. "Pl-please don't leave me."

"I'm going to check on your mom. I'll be right back," she promised him, kissing him on the forehead before running from the room.

Yet another cry of unmistakable agony sliced through the air and penetrated her ears causing goose bumps to rise on her skin. There was something terribly wrong here besides Kushina enduring the excruciating pain of childbirth. Just as she reached the bedroom door, a deafening explosion sounded and she was blown back against the wall behind her. Raising her arms, she did her best to protect herself from the door that was flying through the air toward her. Dropping to the floor, she curled into a tight ball. When she was not smashed by the projectile that had been made of the bedroom door, she slowly lowered her arms and opened her eyes. She looked into a pair of big blue eyes that were wide open.

"Naruto!" she gasped in awe. It was then she noticed he was standing over her with the door against his back. She gasped again when he dropped to his knees in front of her, his breath coming in loud wheezing inhales. "I told you not to follow me!"

"I-I wanted to pr-protect you," he stammered, struggling for air.

A terrifying roar that threatened to burst her eardrums drew her attention from the stunned and hurt child in front of her. Peeking around the door her hero had kept from killing her, she saw something that almost made her heart stop beating from the raw terror it induced. Hell and all of its nightmarish fury had arrived in Konoha. It had come in the form of the nine tailed fox demon. Standing above the laboring woman on the bed was the humongous fox demon she had only heard about in bedtime stories. Her eyes moved beyond the nine tails swishing angrily behind him to see the blood splattered on the single wall that had managed to survive the chakra blast that had preceded his release. She looked down to see her mother's bloody body that was hunched over her grandmother's as if to form a shield from the danger that had assaulted them. Neither one of them could have been saved from the explosive release of the fox demon. Judging from the blood spattering their bodies and the wall, she knew they were dead.

"MITSU!" Jiraiya hollered to get her attention as he restrained the demon with chakra. "TAKE NARUTO AND RUN."

Mitsukuma looked at the boy in front of her, rolling forward to push the door off of his back. There was a forceful push on the door that threw her back against the wall just before a thunderous crack met her ears. She heard Naruto utter a strangled cry as if he were choking when something wet and warm hit her shoulder. Looking down, she saw blood trickling down her chest. Her abdomen started burning which pulled her gaze downward.

"Oh, no," she whispered, seeing that the tip of a large black object that resembled a claw stabbed into her belly. Following the ever widening curve of the claw she saw that it had impaled Naruto's body completely, coming out of his chest through his back.

"It hurts," Naruto moaned, his eyelids closing before reopening slowly. "You're all right...aren't you?"

"Of course I am. Oh, Kami, no," she breathed, pressing her palms to his cheeks when his eyes closed again.

Jiraiya and Minato were in shock. They stared at the scene in front of them not quite comprehending what they were seeing. All they could see was the Kyuubi's claw had been thrust through the door; the door they knew had been on Naruto's back to keep it from crushing Mitsukuma. Kushina screamed in pain, clutching her gigantic belly since she had not yet given birth to the twins.

"Help her," Jiraiya ordered his son, moving toward the children. His steps halted when he saw Tsunade appear from the cloud of dust and falling rubble that had been stirred up by the demon's fiercely twitching tails.

The purple Yin seal had spread across her face which was full of rage and appeared even more frightening than it had when he confronted her at the Senju compound. She stepped right up to the demon's foot that was placed on the door, laying her hands on it. With a scream of unrestrained fury, she grasped the humungous beast's paw and flung him backwards with every bit of strength she possessed. The door had stayed in place on his claw that she had removed from her grandson's little body and the children were revealed to them.

"You will not kill them, you bastard!" she howled, watching the demon fly through air to land in the surrounding forest with a great boom that sent up a puff of dirt, trees, and terrified birds.

"Naruto!" Mitsukuma cried out, catching the unconscious child in her arms to keep him from hitting the floor. After surveying the massive bloody wound from the back, she carefully turned him over to look at his chest. Her hands shook as they pressed over the gaping wound that had ripped open his chest. "Don't die. Please, don't die."

Tsunade knelt down beside the children, patting the cheek of the girl covered in blood who held her grandson. Her fingers brushed across his cheek that was speckled with blood like macabre freckles before moving down to rip apart his t-shirt to see the injury better. She bit her lower lip as she studied the big open hole in chest that easily showed muscles, bones, and organs had been irreparably damaged. It was a mortal wound; there would be no saving him.

"Please," Mitsukuma begged, grabbing the woman's hand as she gingerly poked around the crater that had been opened in his chest. "Please, help him. Heal him."

"I-I c-can't," Tsunade stuttered, tears forming in her eyes. She had used too much of her chakra to be able to use her Strength of a Hundred Technique to save him. Although it was forbidden, she would have done it anyway. It would hardly atone for the sins she had committed against these people, her very own family, but it would be a start.

"Tsunade! What the hell are you doing here?!" Jiraiya yelled, snatching her to her feet by grabbing her long ponytails.

"I heard the explosion and saw the beast from the jail. I came to help," she said, snatching her hair free from his grip and shoving him backwards. She did not bother to add that she had left all of her watchdogs unconscious at the jail after she freed herself. Her options had been to run away or to help out with the impending disaster. For some reason, for once in her life, her motherly instinct to protect kicked in and she found herself running for the humungous nine tailed demon.

"We don't need your help, you self-centered, crazy-assed bitch!" he hollered, rushing toward her with his hands outstretched. He intended to strangle her to death. No jutsus, no special techniques; just a good old-fashioned death by strangulation which would give him great satisfaction since it would require a personal touch.

A deafening roar of anger shook the ground and created palpable sound waves around them. Kyuubi was awake, and he was more pissed off than ever.

"DAD!" Minato shouted once the noise lowered to a dull rumble like constant rolling thunder. "Now's not the time for that! We have bigger problems."

"Literally," Tsunade breathed, her eyes widening when the beast appeared, his jaws snapping furiously as drool dripped to the ground from his fangs that lusted for blood - their blood.

"What do we do?!" he shouted back over the ear-splitting noise of the howl of wrath from the demon. He hit the beast with a Rasengan to repel the demon's attack meant for his father which sent the immense fox flying over their heads.

"The babies need to be born. Tsunade, you tend Kushina," Jiraiya ordered her, surprised when she moved to the woman with no argument. His eyes filled with tears when he looked at the white faced Mitsukuma rocking his grandson while desperately trying to stem the profuse bleeding with her healing technique. He knew it was pointless, that boy was going to die. Despite that, he told her, "You take care of him, stop the bleeding then heal him as best as you can. We'll get him to the hospital soon." He turned to look at his son. "We need to seal that fox demon."

"We can't seal the beast back in Kushina, she's too weak," Minato panted, dropping to his knees when the weariness and fear overwhelmed him. He was about to lose everyone he loved.

"Now's not the time, Son. Suck it up," his father admonished, feeling cruel but he knew Minato needed to be strong to save them all.

"What about me? Seal him inside of me," he offered, standing to his feet.

"NO!" a childlike but strong voice yelled.

Both men looked at the little blonde, the one who meant the world to them, who was dying before their very eyes.

"Me," he panted, opening his eyes. "Seal him inside of me."

"Out of the question. You're too drained to hold him either," Jiraiya said, his eyebrows drawing together with emotional pain so intense it made his chest ache.

"I can hold him long enough to die. And he'll die with me," Naruto mumbled, his eyes fluttering shut.

Mitsukuma sobbed as she pushed chakra into his body trying desperately to heal him. She could feel her reserves running low but she would not stop. Her lips pressed against his forehead, forcing in more healing chakra. Her concentration was broken momentarily when the wail of a newborn baby penetrated the eerie silence. Even the Nine Tails had grown silent to watch the humans, his red demonic eyes opened wide with curiosity.

"I'll do it," Minato proclaimed, determination deepening and roughening his usually soft gentle voice. He raised his hands to begin the process while his father took a moment to recover from the stupefaction of his son's declaration. "I need your help with the Ten Star Bijuu Seal, Dad. This won't be easy and I can't do it alone."

Jiraiya nodded, turning his attention back to his grandson. He dipped his forefinger in the blood that had begun to pool around the child's body to scrawl symbols and words on the floor to start the sealing process. Kushina had learned this technique from her grandmother, Mito, which had been passed down through generations of Uzumaki's for a time like this. Early on in the pregnancy, she had shared the technique with her husband and father-in-law to prepare for this possibility. They had come too close the first time to not be ready for the demon to attempt to free himself a second time.

Tsunade wrapped the first child, a boy, in a blanket to hand him to his exhausted mother. She was too preoccupied with ushering the second child, her third grandchild, into this world to be able to watch what the other people were doing. It was difficult to concentrate due to the grief and guilt that threatened to crush her. Seeing that damn beast had brought her back into her right mind. Maybe it was the shock or the terror or...whatever it was she was here and lucid for the first time in many years. Tears filled her eyes as she cleaned off her newborn granddaughter, waiting for her to take her first breath. When the quiet mewling sound reached her ears, she smiled. After swaddling the baby, she kissed her on the forehead before giving her to the mother who was already giving her son his first meal.

"Congratulations," she sniffed, pushing the sweaty red hair from her daughter-in-law's forehead. "You're a mother of three healthy children."

"They're going to be okay?" Kushina asked, staring down at her babies.

"They're going to be fine. Their lungs might be a little weak and you will have to be sure keep them warm, but they'll be fine," she assured the exhausted mother. Lowering her eyes, she murmured, "I'm sorry."

"We'll deal with the past later," the redhead said, looking over at her husband and father-in-law who were trapped in a life or death struggle with the demon. "Help them take care of that or we won't have a future."

Jiraiya had summoned Gamabunta who was sitting on the fox demon to hold him down while he further restrained him using the toad flatness technique.

"Hurry, Son," Jiraiya said using the deep resonating voice of the demon to speak. "We can't hold him long."

"Get ready to move, Gamabunta," Minato warned the giant toad, preparing himself to throw the ten kunai tagged with special seals. "NOW!"

The toad disappeared in a puff of smoke to return to Mount Myōboku while Jiraiya held Kyuubi still so the kunai could pin each of nine tails to the ground. The tenth kunai penetrated his heart which would be held captive by the Fūinjutsu that would link his heart to that of his holder; when the container's heart stopped beating, so would his. The demon caterwauled in fury until the ground shook since he had been incapacitated and was about to be resealed in another body.

Tsunade knelt down by the children, placing her hands over the girl's. She managed a comforting smile through her tears when the girl's big brown eyes full of fear and dread fastened to her face.

"I'm trying to save him but I can't. He's dying because of me," she sobbed, her words barely perceptible through her tears.

"No, he's dying because of that fox demon," Tsunade corrected her, using her healing chakra on the child who was trying to heal her grandson. Earlier she had seen the blood covering the girl's belly from her wound that had now soaked through her shirt and was dripping down her thighs. She wondered if the child even knew she was injured. If the girl did not stop her useless attempt to heal Naruto, she would die too.

The small blonde beneath their hands suddenly jumped, frightening them both as his body started quivering then thrashing.

"What's wrong? What is it?" Mitsukuma asked, staring at the blond woman beside her who was intently staring at Naruto. Following the woman's line of vision, she noticed something moving on the boy's belly, like something crawling under the skin. Her eyes followed the black line that was appearing and encircling his belly button in ever widening concentric circles to make a swirl. Stars began to appear at certain intervals on the dark line as it moved. Counting, she held her breath as the tenth star formed around his belly button, each point intersecting with the circle around it. Inhaling sharply, she cried out his name in agony when his hand suddenly gripped her wrist with a crushing force. Her eyes met a wide open pair of blue ones as he continued to squeeze her wrist until the bones ground together before cracking.

"Honeybear, make it stop," Naruto begged, his large tear filled eyes pleading with her. "It hurts."

Mitsukuma was paralyzed and stricken speechless from being startled out of her wits by his unexpected awakening. Due to her shock, she did not feel the pain of her broken wrist. She watched in gape mouthed awe as the wound began to close on his chest. Her disbelieving eyes observed black lines creeping across his cheeks. There was a definitive, electrical crackle to the air that was filled with a rushing sound like a wave that never reached the shore. Her fingers trembled as they traced the odd streaks that looked like whiskers across his cheeks.

"It hurts so much," he gulped, just before losing consciousness.

"Naruto? Naruto!" she screamed, shaking him in her panic. Surely after all of that he could not be dead. Her fingertips brushed across his chest that was now just as perfect and smooth as it had always been. There was no evidence an injury had ever been there except for the blood that still covered his pristine skin. Her fingers followed the strange markings on his belly while her other hand pressed against his steadily beating heart. "What happened?"

"The Kyuubi is now locked inside of him," Tsunade answered tearfully, taking the girl's hand in hers to heal her broken wrist. The poor child was in such a state of severe physical shock that all this time she had no awareness of any of her injuries. Brushing her fingers through the blond hair of the child who was her grandson, she realized it was most likely because she was far too distracted taking care of him.

"We have to get him to the hospital," Jiraiya announced, kneeling down to take him from the girl who refused to release him. He placed his big hand on her head, patting her. "Mitsu-chan, you've done a wonderful job of taking care of Naruto. You need to let him go so we can take him to the hospital."

"But, I can't," she murmured weakly, reserving her last bit of strength to hang on to him.

"Honeybear," Tsunade cooed, using the nickname she had heard Naruto use for her. She gingerly took the girl's arms away from the boy's limp, but definitely alive, body. "You're going to the hospital too. You'll be right there with him. Let go."

"O-okay," she whispered, just before she fainted.

"How could you do that?" Tsunade asked as she rose to her feet with the unconscious girl in her arms. "Are you crazy?"

"Yes," he answered curtly, his face hardening as he glared at the woman. No one would know crazy better than her. "We sealed the Kyuubi inside of Naruto. That damn demon is what saved his life. He was also a willing container." His eyes narrowed with anger as his hatred flared. "Don't you dare judge me for a desperate decision after what you've done. I did what I did to save a life. What excuse do you have for trying to destroy one. That of your own son."

Tsunade did not utter a response because there was none. Lowering her eyes from his, she gulped hard to swallow the lump of guilt that threatened to choke her.

"You can drown in remorse later, _Mother_," Minato growled, tainting the word with sarcasm. He moved past them with his wife and two newborn children in his arms. "We have to get them all to the hospital."

"He's really strong isn't he?" Tsunade mumbled to herself. She had witnessed the same brute strength she possesses in both her son and grandson.

"He is _your_ _son_," Jiraiya spat at her before adding while touching Naruto's head, "And he's your grandson."

"Yes...he is," she murmured, sadness and regret evident in her voice. She was quite aware of who the two blondes were to her. The time had come for her to finally admit their identity to herself.

Sighing noisily, Jiraiya restrained his emotions. There was no time for making tearful apologies or hurling heart rending insults at the moment. Besides, it would take a hell of a lot more than a few words to assuage his fury and hate for the woman. He stated in a cold, matter of fact manner, "We need to get these children to the hospital."

Tsunade nodded, holding the little girl in her arms to follow Jiraiya to the hospital.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you to Firetemplar415, my partner in creating this story. Also, a big thank you to you wonderful readers!

* * *

Tsunade lay the girl on the bed the medical nins indicated in the room to which they had been led. She backed away to allow the medical personnel to do their job. Retreating to a corner of the room, she watched as the blonde boy, her grandson, was being seen to in the other bed. She guessed the mother and newborn twins were being cared for in another, more private and less chaotic, room. Her heart skipped a beat when Jiraiya swept into the room. Goose bumps formed on her arms when the chill wind his hasty entrance created moved over her body. She studied him as he stroked the unconscious child's blood spattered cheek tracing the newly formed whisker marks across his skin while the medical nins surrounded the bed. The guilt on his face mirrored the remorse growing in her heart. However their reasons for their guilt was completely different: he had committed a selfless act to save his grandson and the whole village whereas she had shunned him and her whole family to save herself. Gulping audibly, she squeezed herself into the corner as if wishing her body could dematerialize into the wall. When his angry eyes met hers, the barrier hatred cutting off her feelings instantly rebuilt itself within her.

"You!" Jiraiya yelled, crossing the room in a matter of a few steps. Grabbing her shirt and twisting his fingers into the fabric at her shioulders, he peeled her off of the wall to bring her nose to nose with him. Clenching his teeth to keep from shouting, he ground out, "What the hell are you still doing here?"

"They're my family. I want to be here," she answered, swallowing again.

"Don't you dare call us that. We stopped being your family a long time ago by your own choice," he growled menacingly, shaking her slightly. "You're going back to the jail."

"I don't want to!" Tsunade bellowed, unhinging his fingers from her shirt. She smoothed down the hopelessly wrinkled material, glaring at him hatefully. "I won't go back! I want to stay here!"

"The hell you won't go to jail," he muttered, seizing her by the collar of her shirt. "This is for family only! Which you are NOT!"

"HEY!" yelled one of the female medical nins, glowering at the arguing people. "Get out of here! Take your petty family squabble outside! We need to take care of these children!"

"Idiots," one of the males grumbled as they walked out of the room, Jiraiya dragging Tsunade by the collar.

Tsunade pulled at his fingers, attempting to twist out of his grip. She was shocked to find his fury had instilled him with a strength close to that of her own. From experience she knew anger and hate could be powerful emotions, even causing one to turn their back on those they loved. Although she knew her motivations for doing so had been done out self-centered fear, she still felt she had done nothing wrong. She had been blindsided after all. As if the regret from spending the night with Jiraiya and cheating on Dan had not been enough to drive her insane with guilt, discovering her unwanted pregnancy had been the defining factor that pushed her over the edge. What had Jiraiya expected? That she would declare her undying love for him, be thrilled she was having his baby, and marry him to settle down and live happily ever after? Not a chance in hell. Why couldn't anyone understand her pain and anguish in this whole disaster. She grunted with discomfort when she was unexpectedly swung into a tree. Narrowing her eyes in annoyance, she glared at the man standing in front of her regarding her with loathing and disgust.

"You self-centered heartless bitch!" he yelled, barely resisting the desire to wrap his hands around her throat and squeeze until her life departed. "How could you...how dare you! How dare you think that we would accept you right back into our lives after what you've done! I'm grateful you did what you could to heal my grandson and thank you for saving my Mitsu-chan, but damn you to hell for what you've done to your son!"

"I'm sorry!" she apologized, unable to stop the words from coming. It sounded pathetic and hollow as the words echoed in her own voice in her brain. She had meant the words when she spoke them but somehow they did not even sound sincere to her.

"Save it!" Jiraiya shouted in her face, sending spittle flying over her cheeks. "You're going back to jail. If that ridiculous apology was only to save your sorry ass, and I'm sure it was, it's not going to work."

Tsunade allowed him to drag her to the jail where the guards and Kakashi were just waking up from the beating they had received from her. She snatched her collar from his clutching fingers with a jerk of her shoulders, straightening her clothes and gathering what tiny bit of her pride remained after the manhandling she had received. Holding her head high, she walked into her cell of her own volition closing the door behind her. She smiled mirthlessly at Kakashi as he relocked the cell.

"I'm going back to the hospital," Jiraiya informed Kakashi. "Do what ever you have to do to keep her ass locked up in here? I don't want her bothering us again."

"Anything?" Kakashi asked, his one revealed dark eye glittering mischievously.

"Anything," the white-haired Sannin answered with a sinister grin.

"Don't even try it," Tsunade warned, glaring at the menacing ninja who had become her jailer.

"Don't worry. It will only be a Genjutsu, a not so nice dream," he assured her, raising his forehead protector to reveal his red sharingan eye. "I won't hurt you. But I can't promise you won't hurt yourself."

"Dammit," the woman breathed when she felt herself slipping off into a dreamlike state despite being wide awake. The faces of the men she had shunned and tried to destroy, the faces of her lover and her son, who had haunted her nightmares for years appeared to hurl insults at her while reminding her what a horrible person she had allowed herself to become. Paybacks can be a real bitch.

~\0/~

Mitsukuma came to consciousness slowly, her eyes blinking several times to adjust to the bright light flooding the room. Rolling onto her side, she carefully opened her eyes to keep from being blinded by the sunlight. She saw a dark head laying on the bed at her shoulder while her hand was encased in the large hand belonging to her father. Her free hand stroked through his short black hair to wake him gently.

"Daddy," she whispered, tears forming in her eyes when he looked at her. The first memory that filled her mind upon awakening was that of seeing the dead bodies of her mother and grandmother.

"I know, baby, I know," he murmured, leaning forward to kiss her forehead.

"Daddy!" she cried out in sorrow, allowing the mournful tears to flow to grieve her mother and grandmother. She snuggled against his chest when he sat on her bed and pulled her into his lap. Sobbing loudly to give in to her grief, she cried bitter tears for her lost loved ones. The events that occurred thereafter began to play through her mind, causing her to twitch in her father's arms as she relived the physical agony in addition to the mental anguish the traumatic occurrences had caused. Thinking of the blonde she loved that had saved her from getting crushed, she called out, "Naruto! Where is he? Is he alive?"

"Yes, Mitsu-chan, he's right there," her father murmured, turning her to face the bed in the room next to hers. "He's in a coma, but he's alive. You've been unconscious for days yourself."

"Can I...can I go to him?" she asked, looking up into her daddy's dark eyes.

"Of course," he answered, holding her like he used to when she was Naruto's age.

Mitsukuma wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on tightly as he stood up from the bed to take her to Naruto. Reluctantly, she let her father go when he sat her down on the edge of the bed. Her eyes surveyed Naruto's cute face, lingering on the whisker marks that she had watched appear many days ago. Her shaking fingers pushed down the sheet before they brushed across the unblemished skin that covered his chest where she remembered seeing a gaping hole. Unbuttoning her nightgown just at her belly, she looked down to see a round puncture wound that was healed over with new dark pink skin a few inches above her belly button. After fixing her gown, she lowered the sheet further to reveal his belly. Tracing the swirl with the tip of her forefinger, she went back to follow the outline of the ten stars, saving the largest one around his navel for last.

"What is that?" her father asked, leaning forward for a closer look.

"The fox demon," she mumbled, pulling the sheet back up to his chin. "They put the fox demon in him, Daddy."

"They did what?" Daijiro whispered in awestruck shock.

Mitsukuma turned her large, pleading brown eyes to her father. "Daddy, please...please understand. He did it...no they did it," she corrected herself recalling Jiraiya and Minato's sealing technique. Taking one of her father's hands between hers, she begged him to understand. "They did it to save us all. Naruto saved my life, Daddy. He protected me from the demon before it was put inside of him."

"Too bad it was too late for your mother and grandmother," he muttered, pulling his hand from between his daughter's. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he said, "I'm taking you home."

"No, Daddy," she responded with conviction, turning toward Naruto. Getting comfortable on the bed next to him, she put her arm across his body to pull him close to her. "He saved my life. Now, he needs me."

Mitsukuma closed her eyes, gripping Naruto's narrow shoulder fiercely in preparation for her father to pull her away. She heard her father release a defeated sigh and rolled over to look at him. Offering him a weak smile when he patted her head gently, her body filled with relief when she knew he would not be taking her away.

"All right, my stubborn little one," he murmured, bending down to kiss her on the forehead. "You're so much like your mother. I already know there's no reason to argue with you because you're not going to change your mind are you?"

"No," she replied with conviction, lying back down next to Naruto.

Daijiro smoothed down her disheveled dark brown hair. He wanted to force her to come home with him and was not particularly comfortable leaving her here. However, she had made her desire to stay with the boy quite clear. Pulling her away would only make her furious with him which he did not want. Hopefully, she would come home soon on her own.

~...~

Tsunade awoke with a start, pressing the heel of her hand against her aching forehead. She was going to beat the white-haired ninja's ass if he abused her one more time with a genjutsu. Keeping her eyes closed tightly, she plotted the torture she would put him through once she got out here.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were sleeping off one of your infamous drinking binges," a voice spoke.

"If only I had a drink," she muttered, thinking this was possibly a residual phantom from the induced hallucinations.

"I wish you hadn't come back, but now that you have, the least you could do is sit up and talk to me."

Tsunade's eyes flew open and she turned her head to see the source of the voice. She was greeted with a vision of the serious face of Orochimaru. He still looked exactly the same: sickly white skin, vertically slitted yellow snake eyes, and long black hair that now reached his waist.

"What the hell do you want?" she growled, sitting up on the uncomfortable bed.

"I just want to talk to you," he said, opening the cell door and walking inside.

"Come to reminisce? Relive old times?" she asked with a sneer, refusing to move over to make room for him. She cried out in irritation when he bumped her with his hip and scooted her over to make room for himself.

"Maybe," he answered, allowing a smile to slightly turn up the corners of his mouth. "I also want to beat some sense back into you, but I'm hoping talking will help that happen."

"You remember your impression of a fountain in Hinode?" Tsunade asked, receiving her answer when dark pink color flooded his wan cheeks.

"You remember your trail of carnage, demolishing bars and gambling houses in that same village?" he inquired, chuckling a bit when it was her turn to blush.

Tsunade sighed, closing her eyes as she leaned against the wall behind her. "If only we could go back to those times before...," allowing her voice to trail off when she remembered what else happened there.

"It's time you became a grown up and dealt with that. Jiraiya and your son aren't going to vanish simply because _you _don't want them to exist anymore," he told her pointedly, noticing she visibly winced from his barbed words. Good; she needed a wake up call to maturity and dealing with the past. He was just the person to give it to her.

"I still have pictures you know," she muttered threateningly.

"Bring it on you - "

"BITCH!" shrieked a female who stomped into the jail cell.

Orochimaru stared questioningly at the irate young woman with short brown hair and dark, almost black, eyes that shone with her ire. He watched in startled curiosity as the woman crossed the small room and slapped Tsunade so hard he felt the pain.

"You awful heifer! Leaving me in Tanzuka Quarters like that! I almost got raped by the creditors that were looking for you! I'll damned if I pay off any of your damn debts with my body you careless, self-centered, bovine freak of nature!" she screamed, punching her mistress in one of her humongous breasts.

"Ow, Shizune! What the hell!" Tsunade howled, rubbing her sore breast that had endured the chakra enhanced punch from her faithful friend. Yes, she had left Shizune behind but it had been for her own good because she did not want to bring her back to this god-forsaken village that would only be a reminder of her Uncle Dan. They had both had a terrible time coping with his death, each for her own reasons.

"Can I help with that?" Orochimaru queried, nearly salivating as he watched her rub her injured breast.

"You've been around Jiraiya just too damn long," she muttered, glaring at him while shielding her breasts with her arms to prevent Shizune from landing another angry punch or Orochimaru from lending a helping hand.

"You are the most selfish, hateful person I have ever met!" Shizune screamed, her fingers curling into fists at her sides. "What the hell is wrong with you? How dare you turn your back on anyone who has ever really cared about you? You coldly refused the advances of Jiraiya and refused to accept your own son. I loved my Uncle Dan but he wasn't a god! He wasn't the only man earth who needed you or loved you! Can't you see that? Honest to Kami, you are hopeless, truly hopeless," she whispered, allowing tears to form in her eyes. "I don't know why I've bothered to stay around you so long. You've treated me like crap too. You can't continue to do this to people because you refuse to get over Dan. I want to hate you, but I can't. But I don't like you." Shizune raised her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I don't like you at all."

Tsunade watched in gape mouthed shock as Shizune turned on her heel and stalked out of the cell without another word. Turning her dumbfounded gaze to the man sitting beside her, she hoped he could explain to her what had just happened.

"She's right, Tsunade. It's time for you get over this. You have damaged a lot of lives because of your own selfish ways. No more," he said with staunch determination, the corners of his mouth pulled down into a scowl.

"Get out," she breathed, unable to talk louder. She was virtually suffocating from the guilt-trip that had been issued to her.

"I'll be back later once all these words have had time to soak in," he warned her, standing up to leave. "You have a lot to make amends for. I suggest you get started as soon as possible."

"Bastard," she snarled under her breath as she watched him walk away. Why was everyone against her? Oh yeah, because she had been a ruthless self-serving bitch according to them. Was she the only person in this world who had ever endured a pain that cut them so deeply they could not cope with it?

_"You have a lot to make amends for. I suggest you get started as soon as possible,"_ Orochimaru's last words replayed again and again in her head.

"I suppose so," Tsunade spoke out loud to herself. Putting her head in hands, she cried. For once she cried for someone other than herself as she thought about the pain she had caused Jiraiya and Minato.

~\0/~

Mitsukuma was awakened by the sound of soft humming. Opening her eyes, she saw a young dark-haired girl arranging flowers in a vase on the table beside Naruto's bed. Sitting up, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned. She smiled when the girl nearly jumped out of her skin before her pale cheeks blushed a dark red.

"Oh, excuse me, I did not mean to wake you," she apologized in a breathy voice keeping her eyes lowered to the floor after she bowed.

"Those are beautiful," Mitsukuma complimented, looking at the colorful flowers of different types in the vase. "Are you a friend of Naruto's?"

"Uh, um, yes..I mean no...I, uh, kind of," she gushed nervously, tapping the forefingers of her hands together nervously.

"What is your name?" she asked the obviously unnerved girl who finally raised her eyes. Upon seeing the pupil less lavender eyes, she knew the child was a Hyūga because of those unusual and somewhat creepy eyes.

"H-Hinata H-Hyūga ," she stuttered, staring at the floor again.

"Why did you come to visit, Naruto?" she inquired, wondering why the girl was here if they were kinda sorta not really friends.

"W-well, I was here visiting the elderly people who have no families to come see them when I saw the Hokage was here. I came to visit her and she told me N-Naruto was here. So I came to bring h-him the few flowers I had left in hopes it would cheer h-him up," she explained, her cheeks turning darker pink as she spoke.

"That was very sweet. Please come back any time you wish. He needs friends right now," Mitsukuma said, smiling at the extraordinarily shy girl. "I'm Mitsukuma."

"Thank you, Mitsu-san," she returned in her soft voice, bowing again before leaving the room.

_What an odd child, but she is very kind,_ Mitsu thought to herself, staring down at the little boy lying beside her. She kissed him on the cheek, glad to feel its warm beneath her lips. If only he would wake up...she nuzzled his cheek wishing he would give her some sign that he would soon come back to full consciousness.

~...~

Itachi entered Naruto's room, clutching the bouquet of daisies tightly in his hand. He was not sure which was more humiliating: carrying the flowers or having given in to his mother's request to bring them here. His mother and Kushina-sama had both expressed their worry about the girl who they could not get to leave Naruto's side. Only when Kushina and Minato visited their son did the girl leave to go home to see her own little brother, Konohamaru, and her father. They had convinced him to go to the hospital to talk her into leaving because it was not good for her to be there so long. Besides, she had not attended her mother or grandmother's funeral. They had told him to consider it an official mission from the Hokage to retrieve Mitsukuma and take her to her mother and grandmother's graves. Softly knocking on the door with a single knuckle, he breathed in deeply when he heard her bid him to enter. He hated how the sound of her voice made his heart race. He was a ninja and supposed to be above such childish reactions even despite his young age. The Chūnin Exams were coming up, and he needed to be prepared. He did not have time for such immature distractions.

"Mitsu-chan?" he called, nearing the bed where she sat curled around the comatose Naruto.

"Itachi," she gasped upon seeing the dark-haired boy. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you. Here," he mumbled, shoving the bouquet in her face.

Mitsukuma smiled as she took the batch of white daisies from him. What an incredibly sweet gesture. She was thankful she had actually gotten dressed today instead of staying in her nightgown. How mortifying that would have been.

"I came to take you to visit your mother and grandmother's graves. They were buried while you were still unconscious," he explained, watching the sadness fill her eyes. He felt bad for telling her in such a cold, straight forward manner but unfortunately that was just his way.

"I won't leave him," she said, clutching the stems of the flowers tightly in her fist. "They're dead and there's nothing I can do to change that. Naruto is still alive. He needs me."

"Other people need you too, you know," he shot back, the anger growing inside of him seeping into his voice. "He has a mother and father and even a grandfather who can take care of him. Your father and Konohamaru need you. Sasuke misses you too since he does not have his best friend. And I - "

Mitsukuma raised her eyes to look at him, swinging her feet off of the bed. She reached out for his hand, imploring him to finish his sentence with her eyes that met his black ones. Her heart sped up when saw the strong emotions held in his usually blank dark eyes.

"I miss you," he admitted, squeezing her hand and pulling her from the bed. "Please, come with me."

Mitsukuma looked back at the unconscious Naruto in the bed. About that time, the soft mewling sound of a newborn baby caught her attention when Kushina and Minato walked into the room with their twin children who had been named Akemi and Hideki. She bowed to them respectfully before rushing forward to take Akemi, the little girl from Minato. Placing a kiss against the child's velvety cheek, she inhaled the sweet baby smell of soap and powder. After stroking her hand over the red fuzz covering the baby's skull, she handed her back to her father. She greeted Kushina more formally before daintily taking Hideki from his mother. Cooing to the fussy child, she rocked him in her arms while gliding her thumb across his chubby cheek. She smiled when she pushed back the blanket to see the thick covering of golden blond hair on his head that was already sticking up into spikes like his father's and older brother's.

"Were you about to go somewhere, Mitsu-chan?" Minato inquired when she gave Hideki back to his mother. He was surprised by her behavior because she had never relinquished the twins back to them so quickly before. Upon seeing Itachi Uchiha in the room, he immediately had his answer to his question.

"Yes, Minato-sama, Itachi came to take me to visit my mother and grandmother's graves," she answered, ignoring the frown that replaced his smile.

Minato had been hoping the boy had come to take her for a more lighthearted outing such as a walk or getting an ice cream. Such was not the case, but he was glad the girl was getting out of the hospital for a while to abandon her self-imposed vigil to watch over Naruto. Although he loved his son, he knew there was nothing the girl could do for him and spending watchful hours on end would do nothing to speed his recovery. Only time would heal his body whether she was here or not.

"We will be with him for a while. Take your time," he told her, watching her walk away with the Uchiha boy's hand pressed gently against the small of her back. He was glad his father was not here because Jiraiya would be livid upon seeing that. Sighing deeply, he wondered how his old man had gotten the idea that Mitsu was meant for Naruto. His father always had all kinds of crazy ideas running around in his head about life in general, especially where relationships and sex were concerned. Upon thinking of the last word, he shuddered. He could only guess what kind of perversion his son would be exposed to by the Ero-Sannin as the thoughts raced through his head from the awkward, embarrassing, and sometimes traumatizing situations he had experienced as a young man because of his father's special brand of perversion. Glancing at his son in the bed, he sighed again. Well, if he survived, Naruto could as well.

~...~

Mitsukuma knelt in front of the tall headstone of her mother's grave. She had already visited her grandmother's grave, leaving the flowers there. She traced the Kanji symbols of her mother's name carved into the slate grey colored marble. Since she could not hug her mother, she wrapped her arms around the stone monument that remained in her memory. Tears burned her eyes before soaking her cheeks.

"Mama," she whispered, holding onto the headstone as the grief she had been withholding flowed from her body. "Mama!"

Itachi knelt down beside her, putting his hand on her quaking shoulder as she cried out her sadness. His breath caught in a sharp inhale when she turned and buried her face into his chest. He could feel her tears soaking through his black t-shirt, but he did not care. Despite his discomfort, he found himself putting his arms around her shoulders to hold her as she cried. Before he could stop himself, he burrowed his nose into her soft chocolate-colored locks to inhale the scent of her shampoo that smelled like fresh strawberries. Getting a grip on himself, he tucked her head under his chin to keep holding her as she rode wave after wave of her pent up grief. When her crying subsided, he stroked her hair to get her to look at him.

"Let me take you to get something to eat, then I'll take you back to the hospital," he promised her.

"Okay," she sniffed, allowing him to assist her to a standing position. She held his hand as they walked. If she had not been so overwhelmed with grief, she would have enjoyed the outing with Itachi that was somewhat like a date.

"Do you feel better?" Itachi asked, as they stood outside of the hospital room door.

"I do. Thank you," Mitsukuma said, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. "You're a really good friend."

"I'll be back for you tomorrow to take you somewhere so be ready," he told her, giving her a smile before hastily turning to leave. He did not want her to see the faint blush that he could feel heating his cheeks.

"I will," she called after him, pondering what could have possibly made him leave so quickly.

Shrugging while issuing a small grunt, Mitsukuma entered the room to check on Naruto. Pressing her hand to his forehead, she smiled to know that the fever had not returned. Each day upon awakening that was the first thing she checked for. Sliding her palm down to his cheek, she cupped his sweet chubby face with her hand. She continued checking him, sliding her hands along his arms. Something poked her palm as it brushed along his forearm, making her stop her manual inspection. Her hand slid over the same spot, feeling a short firm protrusion coming from his skin. Leaning down for a closer look, she saw something that looked like a huge splinter poking out of his skin. Staring at the odd woody projection coming from his skin, she jumped when a leave suddenly unfurled at the end. Pulling back the sheet, her eyes skimmed over the rest of his body seeing more of the weird little projections growing out of his body.

"Jiji," she gasped, thinking of his grandfather. She ran from the room to find Jiraiya because he was the first one she thought of who could offer an explanation to the strange new complication plaguing the comatose Naruto.

...

"Mokuton," Jiraiya muttered under his breath after observing the little branches growing from his grandson's body.

"What?" Minato asked. He had come along to see what the problem was after encountering the panicked Mitsukuma on the way to his father's house.

"Wood release. It comes from his other Jiji, Hashirama Senju. Tsunade's grandfather," he explained when his son stared at him quizzically. He saw no point in saying 'your mother's grandfather' since she had never been a mother to him anyway. Egg donor maybe? Yeah, that would work. Shaking his head, he pushed aside his bitterness to continue examining his grandson. "I suppose the Mokuton manifested due to his body's attempt to heal itself. It's converting his chakra into a literal lifesource to keep him alive at the moment. His body has endured some serious shocks between the mortal injury then the sealing. He should be dead and his body is pulling out all of the stops to heal itself."

"Do you think the demon is doing this?" Minato inquired, staring at his little boy in awe.

"Maybe. He's probably using his own chakra as well to heal his new vessel. The bijū are fiercely protective of their holders to keep themselves alive," he said, glancing around the room. "Where did Mitsu-chan go?"

"She's with Kushina. There was something she wanted to talk to her about."

...

Mitsukuma stood in front of Kushina's desk in her office at the Hokage Tower. She stared at the floor while the woman talked to avoid making eye contact with her. Tired, nervous, and unable to concentrate, her mind had wandered and she was had not heard a word that had been said to her. She wondered what was so important that she had to be dragged away from the hospital just when something really weird was happening to Naruto. Her mind was attempting to wrap itself around what it meant that those tiny branches were growing out of his body.

"Are you listening to me?" Kushina asked the girl whose head slowly raised.

"Yes, Kushina-sama," Mitsukuma lied, her head snapping up.

"I have brought you here to ask you something very important," Kushina started again, knowing full well the child had not heard a word she had spoken. "I want you to be one of my elite bodyguards. No one knows about them about except the members themselves. If you chose not to, you must swear to never speak of this or I will be forced to exile you from the village. You are an exceptional kunoichi at your young age. You would not be accepted into training until you pass the Chūnin Exams which will be no problem for you. That is why I am extending this invitation to you early. It would mean hours of training a day, availability to be at my beck and call, following my orders with no questions asked... "

Mitsukuma's mind wandered again, this time with thoughts of her father and baby brother. They needed her. She could not commit herself to someone in such an all-consuming capacity when they would need her desperately now that her mother was gone. There was also Naruto...Sasuke and Itachi...no, there was no way she could accept this offer.

"No," Mitsukuma murmured, interrupting Kushina's continued explanation of what would be her responsibilities.

"What?" she asked, not believing what she had heard. She was sure the child would be thrilled with the prospect.

"I said no," the young girl repeated, keeping her hands clamped against her thighs while her body trembled slightly.

"Are you sure?" she questioned the girl, looking her over carefully.

Kushina immediately regretted asking her. Perhaps she should have waited until after the Exams, once the girl had time to work through the grieving process of losing her mother and grandmother. All too late she realized she had made a tremendous error in judgment. Minato had always accused her of being too impatient and impetuous, not considering all elements of a situation before rushing ahead with her plans. She had wanted to get Mitsukuma's consent to be one of her guards before the girl could commit to other possible life paths. However, the girl had other priorities already.

"I'm truly sorry to hear that, Mitsu-chan," she said, lowering her eyes to her desk.

"Just as I am to say it, Kushina-sama," Mitsukuma rejoined, bowing respectfully.

"May I ask why? Why would you turn down such an offer so easily?" the Hokage waited patiently as the girl drew in a deep breath.

"I want to take care of my father and Konohamaru. There's also your Naruto who is close to my heart. I have other friends who I want to be with as well. I believe my life can be better spent seeking other endeavors. I was thinking I might want to be a teacher someday," she added to further explain her intentions.

Kushina smiled, feeling quite pleased and relieved with the girl's answer. She definitely had her priorities in correct order. Although her other guards had found ways to fit in family and other pursuits around her, it did not bother her that one of the people Mitsukuma had placed before her in importance was Naruto.

"Very well, I will accept that you have declined my offer. Just remember what I told you about keeping this to yourself," Kushina told the girl as she bowed in preparation to leave.

"Don't worry. I will never mention this to anyone ever. I promise."

~^..^~

Six weeks into his coma, Naruto turned five years old. Family and friends attended a birthday party held in his hospital room complete with presents. The presents remained untouched, left to be opened by the guest of honor upon his awakening. His mother cried afterward, unable to hold back the flood of tears. She prayed that her little boy would not be trapped in a deep sleep for much longer.

Mitsukuma was spending less time at the hospital, devoting more of her time to her father and brother as well as spending hours with Itachi and Sasuke. She had also become very friendly with Hinata who faithfully visited Naruto on a weekly basis. Each night she crawled into bed with the little blond; talking to him for hours while hoping he was hearing her pleas to come back before she fell asleep with him in her arms. On the third day of the eighth week of being in a coma, her prayers were answered.

Naruto was having the most wonderful dream. Lying on a cloud, he drifted through the sky freely. Despite being in the wide open blue space of the sky, he felt safe, secure, and very loved. Snuggling deeper into the soft surface on which he was laying, he glided his hands over the bumpy edges. His hands covered the twin bulges that encased his head like fluffy pillows and squeezed gently.

"Naruto," a female voice called to him. It sounded like Mitsukuma.

"Honeybear," he groaned, his tongue feeling thick after he peeled it from the roof of his mouth. The cloud shifted beneath him, and he groped the round soft peaks beneath his palms.

...

Jiraiya's head popped up from the manuscript he had been working on when his perv senses began tingling. Feeling something warm and wet trickling from his nose, he looked down to see drops of blood dripping onto the clean white part of the scroll beneath. Standing up from his chair, he shifted uncomfortably from the ache that formed below his waist. Allowing his sixth and highly attuned sexual sense to lead him, he followed the sexual vibrations from his house to the hospital to Naruto's room. Flinging open the door to his grandson's hospital room, his eyes were treated with the vision of Naruto lying on top of Mitsukuma, feeling her up and humping her thigh from the wet dream touching her breasts was undoubtably giving him. He could not be more pleased. A few weeks ago, he had noticed the budding breasts of the early developing ten-year old babysitter. Obviously his grandson had noticed too despite being in a coma. Raising his hand to his nose, he uselessly attempted to stem the flow of blood from his nose that had increased to a steady stream. After a wave of dizziness hit him causing him to stagger slightly, he knew it would not be long before he fainted from blood loss. That sweet girl Mitsukuma had helped bring his grandson around with the power sex. He always knew and understood its power; why couldn't everyone else? The Ero Sannin could not be more proud of the both of them. He was happy to know that despite their young age, these two had not only understood but used that power to bring Naruto back to the waking world. A smile curled his lips as a burst of blood exploded from his nose and sent him crashing to the floor, unconscious. Naruto was awake and out of the coma.


	6. Chapter 6

Kushina sat down on the couch next her husband sighing noisily with relief. Hideki had been fussy and hard to get to sleep but finally that stubborn baby had given in to blessed repose. After sliding an arm around his waist, she snuggled into her husband while laying her head over his heart to enjoy the peaceful sound of its rhythmic beating. She sighed again in contentment as his fingers slid through her fiery red locks. Now that all of their brood was asleep for at least a few hours, they were due for a little Mommy and Daddy time. Raising her head, she momentarily held the gaze of Minato's beautiful blue eyes before pressing her lips to his.

"I love you," she whispered, tracing his lips with his forefinger. "My family means everything to me. You...the children...even your dad," she laughed lightly before giving him another affectionate peck. "My family gives my life meaning."

"Speaking of that," Minato said, pulling his wife into his arms and kissing her forehead. "Have you heard the rumors about the Uchiha family?"

"The ones about how some people believe they were the ones responsible for releasing the Nine Tails? Oh, and don't forget about the one where they plan to depose me and take over the village," she added with a snarl. If she could, she would personally punish every gossip monger with her very own hands. "It just makes me so damn angry. They're my best friends and one of the most upstanding families of the village. I hate small minds and big mouths."

"Yeah. There seems to be a distinct air of mistrust and apprehension among the people of this village. It's like we're all at war with each other," he sighed, hugging his wife tightly when he felt her body tense against his.

Kushina forced her body to relax while allowing her mind to stew over the problem of the apparent discord and tension that had overtaken her people. She longed to have a unified, peaceful village again; to be one big happy family once more. Family.

"That's it!" she gasped, jerking out of her husband's strong embrace to sit up.

"What is going in that pretty little head of yours?" Minato inquired, poking her in the temple with his forefinger. He smiled as he practically watched the gears turning in her head.

"Family. Why don't we have a family celebration?" she asked, turning to look at her husband who was giving her an endearing grin. When he reached to pull her into his arms, she inadvertently prevented him from doing so when she began waving her arms in her excitement. "You know, a festival, a picnic, games, and activities...all that wonderful stuff! We can reunite the families while having a little fun!"

"It sounds like a fantastic idea. I'll talk to Dad tomorrow and we will help you start planning. But right now," he murmured, pulling her toward him for a kiss.

Kushina slid her fingers into his silky blond hair, tugging gently as he increased the pressure of his lips on hers. She moaned while parting her lips slightly to allow his tongue inside to explore her mouth. Her hands slid down his chest and under his shirt to glide over the hard ridged muscles of his abdomen. When his hand squeezed her ample breast, the stimulation caused her to pull away from him.

"What?" he questioned her, totally bumfuzzled as to why she pulled away and stood up.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to check on the children," she explained, giving him a kiss on the lips while pressing her hand against the hard bulge that had formed in his pants. "Hold that thought. I just want to make sure we won't be interrupted."

Kushina cautiously tiptoed down the hall, peeking into the twin's room first. Smiling to herself, she listened to the blissful sounds of silence and deep breathing from the sleeping babies. After closing the door carefully, she proceeded to Naruto's room. She opened the door a crack, allowing her eyes to adjust to the dim light. The unexpected sight of the empty bed made a sick feeling form in the pit of her stomach. Flinging open the door, she rushed into the room to the open window. She surveyed the situation and was thankful to see that there were no signs of a struggle indicating he had been taken against his will. Instead, it appeared he had left of his own volition, but why?

"Minato," she called, attempting to keep the panic out of her voice. Running down the hall, she almost collided with her husband because tears had blurred her vision. She did not panic often but when it came to her children, it was more difficult for her to keep a cool head and contain her emotions.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he queried, wiping away the tears that rolled down her pale cheeks.

"Naruto's gone," she sniffed, refusing to sob in earnest so she would not wake the twins.

"Gone? What do you mean go-" He was cut off by his wife who was swiftly losing the tremulous hold she had on her emotions.

"GONE, Minato!" she exclaimed, quickly clamping her mouth shut. Speaking at a much lower volume, she said, "It looks like he ran away. He climbed out of the window and took off."

"I'll go get Dad. You stay here with the twins," he ordered gently, practically disappearing into thin air he moved so fast. Living up to his nickname, he was gone in a yellow flash of light.

...

"Dad! Dad! DDDDAAAAADDDDD!"

"Oh, Kami, seriously," Jiraiya muttered, rolling over and nearly falling out of the bed. He had been having a fabulously triple x rated dream about his lady love, Kikyo. He was long over due for a visit from her.

"DAD!" Minato bellowed, bursting into his father's room.

"Dammit, Son! What the hell is wrong with you? Did you have a nightmare or something? Couldn't your wife just beat the hell out of the boogeyman and you could go back to sleep?" his father grumpily demanded, throwing a pillow at his son.

"Get up!" he shouted, catching the pillow and throwing it back at his father. If he had not been so worried, he would have laughed when his father sat bolt upright in the bed glancing around as if he had been attacked by an unknown enemy. "Naruto's gone. He snuck out and ran away."

"Is that all?" Jiraiya groused, forcing himself out of the bed. He already had a really good idea of where the boy could be.

"Is that all? My son is missing." He glared at his father who seemed totally unfazed and almost uncaring that Naruto had taken off for no reason at all.

"Stop and think for a minute," his father growled, pulling on his pants. He figured he might as well get dressed and go retrieve his grandson so he could get some sleep. "Kushina's had her hands full with the twins. Mitsukuma's been busy taking care of Konohamaru. That Itachi Uchiha has also become a major problem, I mean distraction for Mitsu-chan, taking up her time as well," he grumbled, his annoyance growing with recalling that fact. "I just named his two favorite females in the world. Since Naruto is not with his mother, where do you think he might be?"

"Mitsu-chan's?" Minato mumbled questioningly after taking a moment to put the pieces together in his mind.

"Holy hell, Blondie," he muttered, rolling his eyes over his son's blatant show of, well, blondeness. "Of course, he's at Mitsukuma's. Let's go."

...

Naruto had wedged himself between the arms of the sleeping Mitsukuma who was lying on her side. His arms held her securely while he pressed his ear against her newly developing breast to hear her heart. His other hand moved to rest on the twin peak on the other side of her chest. He liked the way they felt: they were soft except for the hard little nub in the middle. His fingers stroked across the stiff protuberance, and he immediately experienced a strange stirring between his thighs when she moaned lightly. His tummy felt as if it were filled with a million butterflies, and he felt really hot despite the cool night air blowing in through her window that he had left open after climbing inside her room. Drowsiness overtook him and his eyes drifted closed as he scraped his cheek across his wonderful new pillow that was growing on her chest. Finding his happy place which was definitely being with his beloved Honeybear, he drifted off to sleep.

...

Daijiro stumbled to the door contemplating who in the hell could be beating on his door in the middle of the night. Plotting their terrible end for disturbing his sleep which was hard to come by as of late, he opened to the door to see a panic-stricken Minato and his father who looked as grumpy as he felt. In an instant he was wide awake and on high alert. What could possibly be wrong for the two of them to be at his door a little before midnight?

"What's wrong? Is it an attack?" he asked, stepping aside to allow them to enter his home.

"No. Nothing like that. Naruto ran away and we think he's here," Minato explained as succinctly as possible.

"Here? Why here?" he yawned, walking toward the staircase to go to his daughter's room. "How would that little fellow climb to the second story?"

"You'd be surprised what my son already knows how to do," Minato rejoined, glaring at his father who refused to make eye contact.

All three men walked toward Mitsukuma's room. Daijiro was confused and apprehensive. Minato was anxious and ready to find his son. Jiraiya had all kinds of fabulously perverse thoughts running through his head. Daijiro opened the door to his daughter's room peering in experimentally. His hand fell from the doorknob causing the door to slowly swing open to reveal the two kids locked in each others embrace in the bed. Thankfully, the young pervert in training had removed his hand from her breast and his arms were fastened around her waist. His head was still using her other breast as a pillow, but none of the men thought anything about that.

Minato soundlessly moved toward the bed, attempting to unhinge his son from the girl in his arms. The strength held in the boy's scrawny little arms never ceased to amaze him. Grumbling under his breath, he tried peeling Naruto's fingers from her back but he only grasped more firmly which made Mitsukuma writhe and whimper with discomfort from his overly strong grip.

"Just leave him," Daijiro suggested, not wanting the child to squeeze his daughter in half. "She will bring him home in the morning."

"Fine by us," Jiraiya replied, grabbing his son by the collar. Oh, boy! Naruto was getting to sleep, albeit literally, with his first girl. Lucky little tadpole. "Come on, Son. Let's go home!"

"Wait...are you sure that's okay with you?" Minato asked feeling quite antsy about the situation.

"They're only children. What can happen?" the other man returned with a shrug of his shoulders.

Minato gave his father a sidelong glance before sighing with resignation. Hopefully, nothing will happen. He bid Daijiro good night, thanking the man for his hospitality and understanding. An uncomfortable silence ensued between him and his father as they walked in the darkness. At last, he decided to broach the topic of the recently discussed family festival.

"Kushina-chan had a wonderful idea earlier this evening. She wants to organize a family festival to bring the village back together," he announced, staring at the road ahead of him.

"Like a big party?" Jiraiya inquired, idly kicking a rock.

"Yeah. Exactly like a big party," he chuckled, rolling his eyes at his father.

Jiraiya immediately began spouting off a wealth of ideas that would keep them busy for a good six weeks to get everything planned and instituted. It was going to be great!

~^..^~

Today was the day of the much anticipated and first annual Konoha Family Festival. Red streamers waved in the air while green and gold banners emblazoned with the leaf symbol flew proudly from poles and storefronts. One of the training fields, a large open grassy area, had been designated as the picnic area. Food vendors were already setting up to cook to serve many hungry villagers. Store owners had set up games and puppet shows in addition to areas filled with toys like wind up dolls and trains to entertain the children. Everyone had been given a persuasive speech about unity and an even more compelling cash incentive to offer their wares for free to their fellow villagers.

Mitsukuma was sitting on a blanket with Naruto and Sasuke taking a much needed break. She had been dragged around for hours from game to game, booth to booth by the two lively boys who sat playing with the silver pinwheels they had just received. Propping herself up on her elbows, she searched the other people who had settled down into little groups in the picnic area. She was looking for the other Uchiha, the one who made her insides turn somersaults. Her tummy grumbled loudly causing the two little boys to laugh.

"Mitsu! You really are a bear! I heard you growl," Sasuke teased, his normally big round eyes compressed into tiny slits from laughter.

"Oh, shutup," she grumbled, poking him in the ribs to make him screech from being tickled.

"Honeybear, who ya looking for?" Naruto asked, grabbing her cheeks to force her to look at him.

"No one," she lied. Here lately, she had taken note of how Naruto's face would redden and his eyes would narrow into angry little slashes whenever Itachi came around or if she even mentioned his name. The green-eyed monster had taken hold of her sweet boy with the big blue eyes and she did not like it one bit. She grunted when his small but powerful hands pressed a bit too forcefully, making her cheeks hurt. "Naruto, please stop."

"Sorry," he apologized, removing his hands and kissing her cheek.

Mitsukuma ruffled his blond spikes when he plopped down next to her with dark pink spots gracing his tanned and whisker marked cheeks. Her fingers shook a bit as she traced the lines on one of his delicately blushed cheeks.

"Oh, Naruto, I love you," she murmured, kissing his cheek.

"Naruto's got a girlfriend! Naruto's got a girlfriend!" Sasuke began to chant in the most irritating manner possible.

"Shut up, Sasuke! It's not like that!" he yelled, lunging at his best friend and pushing him down on his back.

Mitsukuma was just about to chastise the boys as their wrestling match began when Hinata appeared. For a moment, she silently watched the fiercely shy child who stood in a self-conscious silence, tapping the tips of her forefingers together nervously. When she realized that Hinata was not going to say anything, she offered a polite greeting which was met with an audible sigh of relief and stuttered 'hi' in return.

"It's good to see you, Hinata," she said with sincerity, being distracted by the ruffians engaged in a ferocious battle. "Boys! Stop that! There's someone I would like for you to meet."

The Blonde and the Raven sat up instantly upon seeing the dark-haired, lavender eyed little girl in their midst. They gave a simultaneous salutation of 'hi' like a chorus of little birds - dodos most likely.

"H-hi, N-Naruto and S-Sasuke," the girl stuttered helplessly.

"Hey, what's wrong with your mouth? You don't talk right," Naruto pointed out, making a dark red blush creep up Hinata's ivory colored neck. He leaned forward almost coming nose to nose with her. "Are you stupid or somethin'?"

"NARUTO!" Mitsukuma hollered, watching in horror as Hinata ran away crying. She snatched the blonde to her by grabbing the top of his ear and twisting. Giving him a stinging swat on the bottom, she turned him to face her. "I want you to go apologize to her!"

"Damn, Honeybear, what the hell was that for?" he spat out, squealing when she popped him on the behind again. Rubbing his sore butt cheeks, he glared at her hatefully.

"You've been spending far too much time with Jiji," she remarked, checking the buttons on her shirt to make sure they were all secure. As of late, Naruto had developed a serious case of roaming hands which she chalked up to simple curiosity at first but now it was just becoming annoying - and somewhat violating. Turning him around, she pointed to Hinata who was sitting beneath a tree with her head on her knees crying. "Go apologize...now!"

Naruto risked one last glower at the enraged Mitsukuma, sticking his tongue out at her when he was sure he was out of her reach. He turned to run toward the sobbing girl. _Might as well get this over with. I don't like you right now, Honeybear_, he thought to himself. Heaving a noisy sigh, he hoped to catch Hinata's attention. When that did not work, he cleared his throat with much zeal but that failed as well.

"H-Hinata?" he called, pondering the possibility her speech impediment might be catching.

"Wh-what?" she stammered, looking up at him as she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand.

"I'm sorry," he gushed, feeling his cheeks get hot because this was so incredibly embarrassing.

"It's okay. Would you like to sit with me? Look at the toy I just got," she said, pulling the small metal wind up frog from her pocket.

Naruto watched with fascination as she wound the shiny silver key on the back of the lime green colored frog. He knelt down beside her as the clicking and grinding of the gears began. Leaning forward, he impatiently waited for something to happen. The frog unexpectedly jumped, hitting him in the nose.

"Ow!" he howled in pain, holding his aching nose.

Hinata laughed until the tears she shed were from sheer joy.

()(..)()

_This was a horrible mistake_, Tsunade thought to herself as she sat under a tree close by where Minato and Kushina were sitting on a blanket. She had purposely separated herself from their small group because she had the distinct feeling that she was an unwanted outsider. It had been obvious when Jiraiya arrived at the jail that he was not a happy camper. The little blonde apparently had convinced the man to come see her. A smile curled her lips when she remembered how sweet Naruto had been.

_"Please, Jiji, please let her out," Naruto begged, turning his big blue eyes on his grandfather._

_Jiraiya sighed in defeat when the child unleashed the puppy dog jutsu. He had never been able to withstand that from his father so he certainly could not stay strong when facing the pleading puppy dog eyes of his grandson. _

_"Kakashi, let her out. I'll allow her a twelve-hour respite for the picnic," he spoke out loud. Moving close to the bars where only Tsunade could hear him, he threatened, "You try to make an escape, and I'll kill you."_

_Tsunade nodded. From the murderous glint in his dark eyes, she had no doubt he would follow through on that threat if she dared to even think about running. With remorse filling her to the very depths of her soul she realized she would have been better off taking her chances with her creditors rather than coming back here. Too late now._

Tsunade closed her eyes, releasing a noisy sigh of exasperation.

"Baachan!" an overexuberant voice called just before a heavy weight landed itself in her lap.

Tsunade grunted with exceeding discomfort from the surprising assault, opening her eyes to see Naruto had made himself at home in her lap. She could not help but smile when he nestled his fuzzy head between her overflowing breasts and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you for coming, Baachan! I'm so glad you're here," he said, thoroughly enjoying himself as he nuzzled into her cleavage.

"You're the only one, kiddo," she mumbled, scooping him out of where he had burrowed himself between her boobs. She set him on his feet and shooed him on his way to go play with his friends.

Tsunade rolled her eyes and groaned; there was no doubt in her mind whose grandchild he was. Someone else swiftly garnered her attention when Jiraiya stepped into view with a redheaded woman clinging to his side like a burr. _Interesting. He has a girlfriend,_ she thought to herself, feeling a bit nauseated as an unwelcome emotion blossomed in her gut - jealousy. She reluctantly stood to her feet as the pair made their way toward her. The pleasant expression on the redhead's face turned into a mask of fury.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Kikyo hissed, her long red fingernails digging into Jiraiya's arm.

"_She _is here because Naruto wanted her here," he explained, removing his arm from her talons before they drew blood.

"Is he really the only one who wanted her here?" the irate woman demanded, putting her hands on her shapely hips.

Tsunade made a frightening discovery as she studied the woman. Except for the crimson red hair and sapphire blue eyes, the woman closely resembled her - almost to a creepy degree. Swallowing with great difficulty, she wondered if anyone else, even the woman's niece Kushina, had made that connection.

"Pleased to meet you," Tsunade said, holding out her hand to the woman. She had interrupted the couple whose conversation was rushing headlong into an argument. Instead of dispelling the tension, her effort had only ramped it up.

"Wish I could say the same. Don't think badly of me if I don't shake your hand," Kikyo veritably snarled, glaring at her hand with disgust.

"That's enough," Jiraiya warned the woman, getting agitated from her immature show of resentment.

"What? Are you getting upset with me? After all this woman has done to you? And your son?" she added, noticing his face turning pink with agitation. She bit her lower lip feeling a bit antsy she might have pushed it too far with that comment.

"I think you should leave," he stated in a low voice with a menacing edge.

"Me? What have I done? This is a family festival, and she is not family by her own choice!" Kikyo yelled in anger.

"Keep your voice down," the livid man returned, grabbing her by the arm. "I think you should leave, go to your hotel room, and grow up a bit."

Tsunade stood with her mouth hanging open as she watched the other woman away. Catching herself, she turned away as not to humiliate the woman further as she endured the walk of shame after throwing an immature tantrum.

"So that's your girlfriend?" she ventured, glimpsing at Jiraiya out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm not sure if she will be any longer." He exhaled loudly before adding, "I suppose I should have warned her that you would be here."

"Jiraiya, you idiot!" Tsunade exclaimed, slapping him across the back of the head.

"Hey!" he yelled after receiving the unexpected hit.

"Of course you should have warned her, you moron! You should go apologize to her and patch things up, right now," she admonished him, shoving him in the direction the woman had retreated.

Jiraiya looked at Tsunade, mulling over what kind of game she could possibly be playing with his mind. Seeing the sincere, honest expression on her face, for a moment he could remember the woman he had been in love with for so long. Visibly shaking himself, he pushed aside the unwanted thoughts, reminding himself what this woman had done.

"Maybe later. I'll give her time to cool off." _And myself time to think, _he said in his mind as he walked away. Why in the world would Tsunade want him to make up with his girlfriend? There was no end to the confusion caused by women.

Jiraiya was not sure how long he had been walking when he came upon Naruto crouched behind a big boulder near the treeline around the expansive picnic area. Curious at to what the boy was watching, he decided to get a closer look himself. Sneaking up behind the child without making a sound, he knelt down behind him clamping his hand over the boy's mouth to keep him from screaming in terror.

"What are you watching, Naru-chan?" he asked, receiving a painful kick to the ribs before the child recognized his voice. He carefully set his grandson down on his feet after he stopped flailing about in a panic.

"Honeybear is with Itachi," he growled, assuming his crouching position behind the boulder to continue eavesdropping.

"Hmmm, is that so?" Jiraiya muttered, scratching his chin as he moved to watch too. He was not pleased at all to see Mitsu opening flirting with the eldest Uchiha while they shared dango. It took everything he could do not to jump on the boy when he reached up to remove a crumb from the girl's mouth before putting it into his own. Unbelievable. The rustling grass at his feet and the high-pitched squeaks momentarily distracted him from the goo-goo eyed couple hiding behind the tree. Reaching down into the grass, he seized the small brown field mouse by the tail and pulled it up to look at it. This little critter was about to be very useful. "Naruto?"

"What, Jiji?" the boy asked, the squeaking mouse catching his attention. "What's that for?"

"I have a little training maneuver for you. You want to be a highly skilled ninja right?"

"Yes, of course."

"One of the major tenants of being a ninja is stealth. I want you to take this little fellow here and sneak up on Mr. Awesome over there. If you can slip him inside the Uchiha prodigy's pocket and get away, then you'll be Mr. Awesome," he said, shamelessly baiting the child to pull a terrible prank.

"Okay!" Naruto enthusiastically returned in a loud whisper. Taking the mouse by the tail to keep him from running away, he took a deep breath before setting about accomplishing the task given to him.

Jiraiya was not worried about Naruto getting caught. The two lovebirds were so caught up in each other they weren't aware of anything else. The boy could have just ran straight forward rather than employing a somewhat clumsy stealth technique of creeping up to the tree before making his way around the edge of it ever so slowly. The man was about ready to scream from sheer frustration when Naruto swiftly reached around to put the mouse in the pocket of Itachi's black pants.

Mitsukuma glanced down at the ground, a light blush tinting her cheeks from the compliment Itachi had just given her on her hair that was twisted into a thick braid that reached between her shoulder blades. She had styled it that way all by herself. Her eyes began an upward trek from his black boots up his legs when they stopped at his middle below his waist. Did something move there? Feeling her face grow warmer as her blush deepened to a cherry red, she stared without meaning to as something definitely moved in his pants.

"What the hell..." Itachi muttered, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a tiny brown mouse that sat on his palm.

"Oh, it's a mouse," Mitsukuma uttered with relief, receiving a questioningly look from Itachi.

"What did you think it was?" he asked, his lips tilting with a slightly lecherous grin.

"I, uh, well, um..." She struggled to find the words until the mouse hopped from Itachi's palm and landed in the front of her shirt. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Get it out! Get it out!" she shrieked when the fuzzy rodent began to run laps over her budding breasts. She screamed again when Itachi shoved his hand down the front of her shirt to retrieve it.

"I've almost got it!" he shouted, missing and grabbing her breast instead. "Ow!" he hollered when she slapped him and began hopping up and down while he continued to grope for the small animal loose in her shirt. "Be still Mitsu so I can grab him!"

"Itachi! Stop it! Get you hand out of there!" she screamed, hitting him with her fists.

"Mitsu!" He was still struggling to catch the terrified creature.

"Itachi!" She was still slapping him every chance she got.

It was just too funny. Jiraiya couldn't stand it anymore. He fell back on his butt as he released the howling laughter, laying down in the tall grass to roll around while laughing hysterically. Lucky for him, the ensuing chaos and Mitsukuma's screams were covering the sound of his raucous guffaws. Naruto watched the unfolding scene of what could be construed as a sexual assault happening before his very eyes. He was horrified at what was happening.

"Got it!" Itachi shouted triumphantly, pulling the mouse from her shirt. The traumatized critter simply hung limply, panting for air just like the two people who had also been involved in the life or death struggle.

Mitsukuma watched as Itachi sat him down in the grass, and he scampered away. She flung herself into Itachi's arms, burying her face into the folds of his soft black t-shirt when the tears slid from her eyes.

"It's okay. It was just a mouse," he murmured, patting her back comfortingly. He wanted to laugh as well but was afraid she would slap him again.

"It's not just the damn mouse," she wailed, leaning back to look at his face that bore red handprints because she had slapped him so soundly. Pressing her hand against his cheek, she whispered, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay...really," he assured her, pushing back the strands of her hair that had become loosened during the struggle. With one arm holding her securely around the waist, he used the other hand to tip her chin up to look at her face. Before the apprehension building within him became too much to bear, he leaned down to press his lips to hers.

Mitsukuma found it difficult to breathe when his soft lips touched hers. Just as quickly as it began, her first kiss was over. Despite it's brevity, the earth had moved, bells had rung, and she felt like she was floating.

_DAMMIT!_, Jiraiya's inward voice screamed in fury. That was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to run away screaming in terror, not get her first kiss - certainly not from Itachi. Glancing at Naruto, he watched as the boy's whole body seemed to droop along with the corner's of his mouth. He knew without a shadow of a doubt, his grandson was experiencing his first heart-break.

...

Anko was just about to set into action the extensive practical joke she had planned for her sensei Orochimaru. She realized then that she had forgotten something exceptionally important - bait to lure him into her trap. She had buried several explosive tags in a square. Her plan had been to lure Orochimaru into the middle of the square then detonate them to put a little bang into the day. What's a celebration without fireworks after all? Glancing around quickly, she searched for a possible person to serve as a decoy who would be above suspicion. If she were to do it herself, her intended target would immediately be on alert for something happening.

"Dammit," she grumbled, scratching her head in thought. "What am I supposed to do now?"

About that time, the answer presented itself in the form of a small blonde who looked as if his world had just caved in on him. The Hokage's son would be perfect! Orochimaru would never suspect him. She could get him to tell the snake Sannin that Jiraiya-sama needed to speak with him about something and would meet him right here.

"Hah! Am I good or what?" she asked herself out loud as she trotted toward Naruto. The child looked like he could use a little cheering up and the results of this prank would be bound to put a smile on his face. "Hey, Naruto, what's up?"

"Huh?" he mumbled, bleary eyed and out of sorts.

"Hey, kid, what's wrong with you?" she inquired, sincerely concerned now.

"Oh...hi, Anko. Nothing," he responded, plodding along like a zombie.

"I need your help. Want to play a practical joke on someone?" she asked, seeing a mischievous glimmer returning to his eyes. After he nodded eagerly, she said, "I need you to go find Orochimaru-sama and tell him that your Jiji wants to meet him here...right here," she clarified pointing at the ground beneath her feet. She was standing in the very middle of the square. "Can you do that?"

"Sure," he responded, the impish gleam filling his big blue eyes as he scampered off to find the requested man.

With a giggle, Anko disappeared behind the nearby tree to wait.

...

"What's this all about, Naruto?" Orochimaru inquired as the child pulled him by the hand.

"I don't know. I was just told that Jiji needs to speak to you," he answered, guiding the victim into the trap.

Meanwhile, Anko observed them from her hiding place. "Come on, Naruto, come on," Anko coached him under her breath. She released a sigh of relief when the boy pulled him forward to the exact spot she had indicated.

"What now?" Orochimaru asked, his impatience growing.

"I don't know. I'll go find Jiji," Naruto offered, exiting the invisible square surrounded by explosive tags.

"Good boy, Naruto," Anko giggled, preparing to set off the minor explosives. They would not harm Orochimaru, just fry him a little bit and assure him of a really bad hair day. Once Naruto was a safe distance away, she set them off.

POP, POP, POP! A sound like firecrackers going off caught everyone's attention. A huge ball of white smoke filled the small area at the center of the picnic grounds. An eerie quiet settled over the huge crowd as they waited for the smoke to dissipate. When it did, there stood Orochimaru covered in black gunpowder while his long hair stood out on end as if he had been zapped with a powerful electrical current. He opened his mouth to cough, issuing a billow of smoke.

"LOOK EVERYONE!" Anko yelled with her hands cupped around her mouth to make it louder. "IT'S AFROCHIMARU!"

A gale of laughter like a roaring wave built, rolling from the front of the crowd to the back. The riotous laughter continued as the stunned man who had experienced an explosive surprise stood unable to move.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Kushina demanded when she came to stand beside the man. When the throng of villagers went silent, she could hear the uncontrollably giggling coming from behind a nearby tree. Following the sound, she found a nearly incapacitated Anko who was uselessly struggling to contain her laughter. Seizing the girl by the collar she dragged her from around the tree where the crowd could see her. Kushina proceeded to whip the sixteen year old girl on the behind as if she were two years old. The punishment fit the juvenile actions. "Behave yourself so we can enjoy the rest of our day. Go on home now," she urged the demoralized teenager.

"Yes, Kushina-sama," Anko responded tearfully with a bow.

Kushina turned to Orochimaru barely able to control her laughter. Forcing her lips downward into a fierce scowl, she looked at him and said, "You look terrible. And for Kami's sake, do something with your hair."

"But I - " Orochimaru did not even bother to explain. Instead, he began plotting revenge on Anko - and Naruto. One prank deserves another.


End file.
